
Class JBIUa 



Book 



CotpghtN" 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSn^ 



"AMMI-MY PEOPLE" 



CONTAINING 



An Elucidation" of the Prij^-ciples of the 

Christiai^ Keligiok, as Taught by 

Christ and His Apostles and 

Practiced by the People 

of God in all Ages. 



BY 

WILLIAM J. SHOUP 



"b 



WEST ALEXANDEIA, OHIO 
WILLIAM J. SHOUP, PUBLISHER 






LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Twc Gopitib rteveiveu 

JUN 17 1905 

3ou>rijfiii cnifi( 
COPY B. 



COPYRIGHT, 1905, BY 
WIXiilAM J. SHOUP. 



m- 



CONTENTS 



Page 
Preface, --------__5 

Introduction, --------- 7 

Classification, - -- - - -.- - -11 

Belief and Unbelief, ------- 33 

Doctrine, -- -48 

The Church, -- 59 

Faith, 77 

Love, 82 

Eepentance, 87 

The Scriptural Meaning of the Word *' Baptize," - 97 

Trine Immersion, - 112 

Bowing in Baptism, - - _ 131 

Feet-Washing as an Ordinance in the Church of God, - 187 

Mode of Feet-Washing, ------- 152 

Lord's Supper, ---- 172 

Manner of Observing the Lord's Supper, - - - 187 

Communion, - 194 

The Holy Kiss, 202 

Prayer, - 210 

8 



4 Contents 

Page 

Manner of Presenting the Body Before God in Prayer, 219 

Anointing the Sick with Oil, ------ 236 

The Holy Spirit —Its Office and Work, - _ _ 255 

The Use and Abuse of Song, ------ 271 

Sabbath-Schools, -------- 286 

Colleges or High Schools and their Relation to thf 

Christian Religion, - - 296 

Secret Societies, ------__ 307 

Nonconformity, --------- 318 

Missionary Work — Its Object and Design, - - - 340 

Death, Natural and Spiritual — the Object and Mean- 
ing OF Both, - - 374 

The Resurrection, -------- 394 

Universal Restoration, 415 

Outline Study of the Book of Revelation, - - 437 



PBEFACE. 



One thought — and that thought is to help others to 
think — is the motive in presenting this work to the reader. 
Realizing the blessings that have come from the help of 
others, and desiring, if possible, to pay, at least in part, 
the debt incurred, this means is sought by which to meet 
that end. While the desire is to be correctly understood, 
no special merit is claimed for the manner: the motive 
is all. From this the hope was born, and upon this it still 
lives. Believing that the highest aim in life is "to do 
good unto all men,'^ and especially to the "Household of 
Faith,^^ — through this impulse the work goes forth upon 
its mission. What the harvest will be. He only knows who 
has the power to give the increase. If some can plant, it 
is the duty of others to water; should that be our part, all 
hopes will be realized. The rule in the onset was, "Truth 
with simplicity, at the sacrifice of all else." Eealizing the 
opposition that always attends similar efforts, the task has 
been a severe one. Claiming malice toward none, but 
compromising nothing where truth is at stake, apologies 
are unnecessary. 

Asking acceptation of the work only upon its merit, 
is thought to be fair to both sower and reaper. To ex- 
amine in full the number of subjects treated, and still keep 
within certain bounds, demanded brevity; and for that 
reason thoroughness is not claimed. The object having 
been to follow the lead of the Spirit, rather than that of 
man, explains the absence of many quotations. The work 
is doctrinal, and for that reason it wall have the harder 
light to win. It is intended to be a defense of the Primi- 

5 



6 Preface. 

live Faith of the people of God as taught and practiced 
by them in all places. Noting the tendency of religious 
bodies to neglect many things^ the effort has been to im- 
press the mind with that fact as forcibly as the ability 
at command would permit. The title of the work 
describes its field; yet the desire has been to sow with an 
open handj even if some seeds should fall by the wayside 
or among thorns and rocks. 

This work comes to you, reader, upon a mission of 
love and righteousness. Believing you will approve the 
object, it is further hoped that you will accept the method. 
It may not meet the mind upon the first thought; groat 
truths seldom do. The object has not been to seek pub- 
licit}'' by courting the sympathy of the flesh, but to guide 
the reader to the secrets of God's Word, wherein is its 
saving power. If notoriety had been the prize sought, an- 
other field would have been chosen. Your opinion may 
rebel, your religious creed may protest, yet neither is the 
standard by which we shall be weighed. The unchange- 
able Word of God is the scale in which the test must be 
made. And only so far as the contents are not found 
wanting in that test, is success claimed. It is not what 
is here said, nor what others have said, nor what 3'ou may 
Ra}^ but "what saith the Lord." Should our effort be the 
means of guiding but one to the fountain of truth, it will 
not have been made in vain. 

The work is dedicated to The Cause of God and His 
People, in memory of the author's son, who, more than 
eight long years ago, passed over the Jordan of Death. 

The Author. 



i:n^troductio]^. 



Xo CLASS of works have so hard a task to hold the 
mind as those that are dogmaticah The trend of religious 
thought at present seems to be more in eliminating doc- 
trine than in heeding it. The result is a famine of faith. 
As soon as the nations become indifferent to doctrine^ so 
soon will religion lose its saving power. To endeavor to 
impress this fact upon the minds of both old and young is 
the task we have here undertaken. The writer could have 
been content with reaching those within the scope of his 
voice only; but that which is written can and may reach 
many that the voice would not. 

Books very often go where the minister can not go, 
and writings live on when the grave of the writer is for- 
gotten. Thoughts written help others to think; and to 
train the mind rightly to think goes far in helping us to 
act; and in reading, the mind is more engaged in the 
thought than when in listening to the speaker. It some- 
times happens that the personal presence of the speaker 
weakens the force of his words. It was said of Paul, "His 
bodily presence was weak, but his letters were weighty and 
powerful."^ 

We are so made that we will imitate. Imitation is one 
of our strongest propensities ; and there could be no imita- 
tion without an example. The Divine Example was graven 
upon two tables of stone; this not only insured its un- 
changeableness, but its perpetuity as well. That those 
words were to remain, is evidenced by their having been 
written, and also by the material upon which they were 



i2Cor. X, 10. 



8 Introduction. 

written. "That the world could not contain the books 
that might be written/^^ beautifully emphasizes the Char- 
acter around whom all truth gathers^ and of Him of 
whom Moses and the prophets did write. 

Much of the reading matter that finds its way into our 
homes is not of the best ; the seeds of sin are often sown in 
the minds of our children through the products of the 
press. The pen is a power under which few men have felt 
secure. Should we not guard this weapon lest it be 
abused, and shield ourselves and our children from being 
abused by it? The home, the only city of refuge for our 
children, can not be too carefully guarded. But our chil- 
dren must have books to read, — a debt we as parents owe 
them until paid. A home without a Bible is but poorly 
furnished; yet it is equally true that many have some 
things in their homes they seldom use. A man and his 
library may be far apart. The fountain for knowledge 
lies within ourselves ; the fountain of knowledge lies with- 
out, all but within our reach ; but without some effort upon 
our part the space between that fountain and ourselves 
becomes wider. 

The field so fertile in knowledge is full of tares, which, 
like Jonah's gourd, spring up in a night, but remain until 
the evening. Sin dispersed like pollen, destroys purity, 
mars peace, and deadens love. The hope of happiness is 
built upon character, character rests upon principle, and 
principle is heaven. 

Truth in the abstract is easily told; mythology had 
reached that far, and yet the nations groped in darkness. 
Truth in the concrete is what the world needed then; it is 
what the world needs now. Not until truth was qualified, 
could men see the beatitudes of God; and not until God 
was manifest in the flesh, could this qualification be given. 
In the words and life of Jesus Christ the world has re- 



2 John xxl, 25. 



Introduction. 9 

ceived that qualification, full and complete; for it was said 
that "In Him dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily/''^ 

To emphasize that peifection and elucidate its com- 
pleteness; to show the simplicity and the unerring con- 
sistency, and to set forth in a comprehensive manner the 
practical doctrine of Christ and His people; to place 
^^'ithin easy reach of all lovers of truth a combination of 
faith and practice that must characterize the people of 
God in all times and in all places; to show to the world, 
and prove to all generations, what the unchangeable God 
requires at their hands, to endeavor, if possible, to be 
chargeable to no one ; to be the means of placing within the 
homes of the people of God, and also in the homes of 
their children and friends, a companion with the truth, and 
in defense of the truth ; to try, by the power of the Spirit, 
to leave no ground upon which to build an excuse, but by 
gentle words and earnest pleadings win them to Christ; 
and to help those who are young in the ministry, and who, 
by reason of limited time and some with limited means, 
have not the opportunity to apply themselves as they wish, 
• — such, in these papers, is our strong desire and earnest 
hope. 

We are not all situated alike; we do not all have like 
opportunities, and we are not all gifted alike ; but in this 
one thing we may all be alike, — we should always en- 
deavor to use well that which we have. Should any be 
strong, let him not forget that he is also weak. If any are 
weak, let him remember that he can be made strong; al- 
ways bearing in mind that to help those who can not help 
themselves is divine. 

To those who were strong our Lord gave but little; to 
those who were weak He gave much. The time is short, 
the day is far spent; soon — yea, very soon — we shall all 
need some one to help us to stand; and as we shall never 



8 0ol.ii,9. 



10 Introduction. 

pass this way again, what good we can do, should be done 
Now. 

To you, my beloved brethren, in that high and holy 
calling ; to you, dear children, who are always dear to onr 
hearts; and to yon kind friend, wherever found, is this 
witness of the truth sent, hoping, trusting, believing, and 
pra5dng that, by the grace of God and the comfort of the 
Holy Spirit, it may be a light in time of darkness, a help 
in time of need, a comfort in sorrow, a solace in trouble, a 
companion in sickness, a savior in life. 

Should this, its blessed mission, be accomplished, then 
will the author give God the praise, and all the redeemed 
cry aloud, saying, ^^Not unto us, Lord, not unto us, but 
unto Thy name give glory V ' Author. 



CLASSIFICATION. 

Creation has ever been divided into two parts, or 
classes, — organic and inorganic; living and dead. Man- 
kind shares alike in this division, — the people of Grod and 
the people not of God; or, in other words, the righteous 
and the unrighteous. In the beginning this line of dis- 
tinction was established in the two sons of Adam, Cain and 
Abel. 

The act which drew this line of separation may be seen 
in their different manners of worship. By what influence 
or impulse these two brothers were moved can only be 
known from what they did. Thoughts are the basis of 
action; action demonstrates character; character is the 
real man, the man without the mask. 

These men were real; each acting for himself, each 
independent of the other. The spirit of worship was in 
them, nor did it rest until a demonstration made it mani- 
fest. The same spirit of worship remains in mankind the 
world over; nor is it far removed from what it was when 
these two brothers presented their offerings; seeing that 
the spirit and basis of all true worship is built upon sac- 
rifice. And here on the altar of Cain and Abel it lay — a 
token and s}Tnbol of all that was to follow. Each took of 
what he had ; of that which, when laid upon the altar, was 
his no more. It belonged to him to whom it was offered, 
whilst he who offered it sustained a loss in the like propor- 
tion as he who received it was enriched. 

Upon this pivot the entire worship of the world, in all 
dispensations and in all places, has turned, and is turning. 
So important is this that we should give it our serious 
attention ; for a worship that has not the principle of sac- 

11 



12 ^'Ammi— My People/' 

rifice "iipon which to rest is not akin to heaven. It then 
follows, as an established principle, that the service is only 
worth the price of the sacrifice. This was the balance in 
which the brothers' offerings were weighed. And was it 
not just? It was, from the standpoint of wisdom, and 
that is God's point of view. Wisdom accepts the one, and 
rejects the other. How full of meaning those offerings 
were, those brothers did not know; but God knew, and we 
can now know. 

The offering of the first-born was earthly, dead — the 
natural man and natural offering; hence worth nothing 
for sacrifice. It was dead, and a dead sacrifice has no 
merit. Thus points the index finger of Jehovah through 
all time, telling with unerring certainty that the first- 
born is earthly, and can not be accepted. Do we now see 
why God accepted the offering of Abel? Blood, the em- 
blem of life, was there; and, more than that, the second 
torn had offered it. The shadow of Abel's offering 
reaches to the cross ; the cross reflects the offering of Abel. 
Well says the Scripture, in speaking of the offering of 
Abel, "Though he be dead, yet he speaketh."^ 

Nor is this all we gather from this lesson. In jealous 
rage Cain slays his brother. In scorn and derision the 
Jews crucify Christ. Here can be seen the unchangeable 
decree of the infinite God, who ordained redemption 
through blood. In Cain we have the fruit of the first man, 
Adam, "who was made a living soul." In Abel we have the 
type of the second man, Christ, who was made a quicken- 
ing Spirit. Throughout the Adamic period, or antedilu- 
vian world, the line drawn between the lives of these two 
brothers marked the destiny of that people. This line of 
distinction was established upon righteousness, and must 
stand if man is to live ; nor has the standard ever changed. 
On one side were the sons of God; on the other side 
stood the sons of men. Wisdom drew that line, and it was 



iHeb. xi,4. 



Classification. 13 

rightly drawn. Wisdom still places' the line of separation 
there, when she is allowed to speak. Men have written 
much about whom these sons of God were. Some are in- 
clined to think that they were the offspring of fallen an- 
gels cohabiting with women. The fallacy of this position 
is revealed upon the surface. The offspring of fallen an- 
gels could in no sense be called the sons of God; and holy 
angels would not commit such an act. The Scriptures term 
no men the sons of God but those who strive to maintain 
the purity of His law. And this will make men the sons 
of God in all nations and in all places. N'othing else will ; 
whatever else we may have, or seem to have, if this princi- 
ple be lacking, God has no part in it ; and when God has no 
part in a thing, it is not far removed from death. 

In that period of the world's history there was no writ- 
ten law. The power or force that prompted men to do 
right must have lain within themselves, the mind and con- 
science bending toward that which was right, upon the 
rule of adhesion to original design. Nor is this but a nat- 
ural result in a creation where law reigns. Though man 
was made of the earth, and had sinned, yet withal he was 
in possession of a principle akin to his Maker, which sin, 
be it ever so sinful, can never destroy. This faculty in 
man was then, and is yet, the mirror through which God's 
attributes can be seen, but only when the mirror is prop- 
erly adjusted. The adjusting power lies within the con- 
science ; and in the absence of a better light, conscience is 
supreme. This is the highest power vested in man, and 
necessity demands it, in order to establish a correspond- 
ence, or communication, with God. 

Nothing could more fully illustrate, or more plainly 
demonstrate, this affinity than the principle that is now 
called "wireless telegraphy." How plain it is to every 
mind, when seriously considered, that "there is nothing 
new under the sun."^ This power in man alone gives him 



8Eccl.l,9, 



14 "Ammi— My People/' 

the supremacy over the other parts of creation. Destroy 
this, and man can no more comprehend his Maker than 
does the oak or the horse. 

Nor is power or efficiency of value, only when properly 
adjusted. The instrument intended to send a message per- 
plexes and confounds its owner unless the currents are con- 
nected. So with man, the possession of this faculty, with- 
out the benefit of its use, puts him to still more unrest, 
like fermenting matter that has no vent. 

The ages and conditions through which the world has 
passed, more than proves this position. Worldly wise men 
in all ages have spent unmeasured time and means trying 
to adjust the focus of this instrument so as to reflect God. 
They have sent their philosophical chariots to the skies; 
thither have they gone, ruminating amidst planets and 
Pleiades. They have traversed the path of the sun, moon, 
and stars, and measured their bounds; they have carried 
their labors deep in the earth; but have returned with no 
voice from the other shore. They had the instrument, but 
could not comprehend its use. Not that there was chaos 
in the firmament, or discord in the earth. Not so; in 
either field there was order; and to them, as well as to us, 
order meant law, and law there meant God. This knowl- 
edge to them was the more confounding, and all their 
efforts to seek light along those lines but made the dark- 
ness deeper. Nevertheless men were not all so blind. 
Throughout the passing years of time the world has never 
been without some one to bear testimony to his Creator. 
Nor will it ever be otherwise. Enoch walked with God, 
and God took him. The law of intuition, or, in other words, 
giving heed to the voice of conscience, will always put 
men in communication with God, when they are pure. 

The beautiful property of this eternal instrument is 
the faculty of purifying itself when given the proper field 
for exercise. So boundless is this power that all creation 
responds to it. It was the concluding decree from the 



Classification. 15 

mouth of Jehovah, that the bearing seed, or seed-bearing 
power, was in every plant, tree, and creature that was 
made. The application of that power was designed to keep 
the species pure, and not until man, by his ingenious in- 
ventions, broke that law, did any hybrids come forth. But 
no law can be broken without paying the penalty ; and this 
is why vengeance cries out, while barrenness answers to 
justice. 

By that law which maintains purity were people in 
the antediluvian world called the people of God, or sons 
of God. Had that law been kept, there would have been 
no need of a flood. The normal state of mind and con- 
science seeks fellowship with its origin, — an unchangeable 
law in creation. Sin and wickedness have never yet 
reached so deep as to dethrone the decree of God. The 
law of conformity to type stands secure. 

In the lowest forms of life there is an ever-present 
force or power directing, guiding, controlling every par- 
ticle of matter which goes to make up the various organ- 
isms of which creation is composed, from the embryo to 
the mature state. It is all but impossible to study this 
boundless field with a clear conscience, and keep from say- 
ing, with David of old, "How beautiful are Thy works, 
Lord ! In wisdom hast Thou made them all."^ As long as 
the sons of God maintained purity, that dispensation 
lasted. When purity was lost, man^s conscience was no 
longer a guide. 

The secret of the destruction of that world lay in their 
unlawful marriages. It is said of them, "The sons of 
God married the daughters of the sons of men."* It is 
evidenced from the progen}" of this union, law had been 
broken. Xo longer conforming to type, giants were the 
offspring. This was their sin, for sin is transgression of 
law. In this they had corrupted God's "way upon the 
earth.'' "And God looked down upon the earth, and, be- 

sPsalm xcii, 5. *Gen. vl, 2. 



16 "Ammi — My People/' 

hold it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted His way 
upon the earth."^ Instead of a pure mind and conscience, 
^^the imagination of man's heart was evil continually." 
These unlawful marriages were a blow to all that was 
sacred on earth; they destroyed the purity of the family; 
they were founded upon unholy indulgence and fleshly 
lusts. By these unions an impure fountain obtained, 
which could at the best send forth a corrupt stream. 

Though wickedness filled the earth to such an extent 
that the Creator was moved to destroy man from off the 
face of it, there was yet a remnant to be found that had 
kept themselves pure, — Noah and his family. There is a 
significance surrounding this history which demands our 
attention. Nothing can so fitly represent heaven as the 
family. Eegarding the salvation of this family, Jehovah 
was provoked to wash the world of sin. The result was 
the purity of mankind upon the earth, which, after it had 
been cleansed from sin, was represented in the condition 
of the family. 

The mingling of sin in the covenant of marriage was 
the means that brought the end, and the end was death. 
Out of this baptism of water came a clean earth and a clean 
family. As they had preserved the purity of the family, 
the eight souls in Noah's household were recognized 
as God's people. They were pure because they had kept 
God's way, which is the only way in which any people can 
remain pure. 

The reader is asked to note this point carefully : "The 
people of God" shall be the watchword throughout this 
paper. During the Noachian period the nations again be- 
came corrupt; wickedness again destroyed the purity of 
the family; and with that gone, nothing was left upon 
which to build righteousness. The Tower of Babel stands in 
history as a witness of that people's unholy ambition. Again 
judgment falls, and man reaps the harvest of his folly. 



6 Gen. vi, 5. 



Classification. 17 

Eeader, tarry with us a moment while we view in 
serious meditation this scene of confusion. Can we not 
gather a wholesome lesson from the failings of others ? In 
the picture before us we not only see a turning from God, 
but a rebelling against His laws. Man originally created 
in the image of his Maker, is not only satisfied with sin 
and depravity, but defies his Maker's power. How ex- 
ceeding sinful sin is ! 

Looking toward the west, we see a cloud rising; it is 
coming nearer to us ; we can see the lightning flashing and 
hear the thunders roll ; the earth begins to tremble ; louder 
and louder the crashing forces roar ! How full of meaning 
is this scene to those who witness it! Is not this like the 
day when, in His holy indignation, the Lord purged the 
world of sin ? The cloud has passed ; the setting sun 
breaks forth upon the falling rain, and, lo, the bow in the 
heaven is seen, — the everlasting witness to the truth of 
God's word to man, a lasting promise to all generations, a 
fitting symbol of God's endless love. And thus man jour- 
neys from Babel suffering confusion as the result of folly. 
So impressive is this scene that much more could be gath- 
ered from it. 

But we turn, and looking toward Canaan — ^the land of 
which so much is spoken in the Scriptures — we see a peo- 
ple that had not opposed God. Here is Abraham, who is 
called the Father of the Faithful; and Sarah, his wife, 
the Mother of Nations; and Lot, the nephew of Abraham. 
"Now, the Lord said unto Abraham, Get thee out of thine 
own country and from thine own kindred, and from thy 
father's house, unto a land that I will show you." Here 
are God and man on terms of peace. "So Abraham de- 
parted, and Lot went with him." Not long after this re- 
moval of Abraham from his father's house, through a busi- 
ness transaction, Abraham and Lot became separated; Lot 
journeying toward Sodom, pitching his tent in the cities 
2 



18 "Ammi— My People/' 

of the plains, Abraham dwelling still in the land of 
Canaan. 

Here again we find a people standing for purity and 
peace built upon equity; and these are the people of God. 
For this, Abraham receives blessings and promises at which 
the world will yet tremble when fulfilled. Lot^s close 
proximity to Sodom brought him trouble. Sin is a bad 
neighbor at best, though never so bad as when trying to 
be good. It is hard to neighbor with sin and keep the 
family clean. In this Lot failed. His daughters married 
men of Sodom. The city grew so grossly wicked, that 
God resolved to destroy it with fire. Angels are sent upon 
the mission. They tarry with Abraham for a meal, and 
inform him of their business. The news touches the heart 
of Abraham. Behold the patriot of God pleading for 
mercy ! Behold, again, an indulgent God on the other side, 
mercy bending to mercy's plea ! In this intercession Abra- 
ham approaches Divinity, and God in sympathy draws nigh 
to humanity. Finally Abraham exhausts his plea, as God 
had exhausted His mercy. Sentence is passed; execution 
is stayed for the night. The angels arrive at Sodom. Lot 
meets them at the gate of the city. By strong persuasion 
he prevails upon them to pass the night with him. Ee- 
luctantly they consent. The night draws on apace; the 
darkness of death and doom falls over the accursed people 
and their city. Alas ! how little did this people know the 
hour of judgment was so near ! 

*'The night brings no remorse for sin, 
But onward still the currents sweep, 
And ere the rising of the sun 
The city lay in ashes deep." 

So wicked were the men of that cit}^ so bent upon un- 
holy desires, the promptings of which lead them to in- 
trude upon Lot and his guests! In rain does Lot plead 
with them to refrain from violence, promising them his 
two virgin daughters as a gift to appease their beastly 



Classification. 19 

licentiousness. At this the messengers of God rebel, and, 
pulling Lot into the house, close the door. May it not be 
asked, ^^Where had the sacredness of the family gone in 
Sodom?" Some of Lot's daughters had already married 
wicked men of that cit}", and perished with it. 

The history of God's people proves most clearly that 
the act of intermarrying with other nations has been a 
most fruitful source of weakening their power. So closely 
was this principle guarded in the law given to the chosen 
people, that to break it was to suffer for it. AYhen the time 
had arrived for God to choose a people for His purpose. He 
gave them a command forbidding such intermarriage. The 
morning co?TLeth, the furnace of heaven is in readiness; 
tired in body only, the people of Sodom are wrapped in 
sleep; how near the sleep of death the morning proves. 
The messengers awaken Lot and his two daughters, with 
the mother, hurrying them out of the city, and urging 
them to escape for their lives. Glad of the chance to flee 
from death, the four forsake their home. The mother 
looks back, and becomes a pillar of salt for her disobe- 
dience. Death always fascinates before it kills. 

May it not have been the ties of flesh that caused this 
mother to look back, heeding not the command of God? 
Had sin overcome this mother of the daughters of ^loab 
that she was deaf to the words of Heaven? Our Lord 
Himself recalls the scene, and as a kindly warning says, 
"Eemember Lot^s wif e."^ The giving away to fleshly lusts 
has ever been the besetting sin of God's people. Upon this 
point there have been more failures than upon any other, — 
forgetting that to overcome self is to overcome the world. 

The history of this father and his two daughters we 
leave, after noticing another point, viz. : Euth the 
Moabitess appears after many years in the pages of the 
sacred writings in which she plays a most prominent part 
in the history of the Jewish people. Becoming the wife 

sLukexvii, 32. 



20 ''Ammi— My People/' 

of Boaz, she was the mother of Jesse, who was the father of 
David of the tribe of Judea^ from which our Lord sprang. 
Thus proving that God is ever watching to remember those 
who obey Him. 

From Abraham, the covenant was ratified in Isaac his 
son. When Abraham was old and near the end of his life, 
he was greatly concerned in the matter as to whom Isaac, 
his son, should take for a wife. N'or did he give his mind 
rest until he had obtained an oath from his most faithful 
servant that he would go to the house of Nahor, the brother 
of Abraham, and there procure for Isaac a wife. That 
Isaac should not marry a Canaanite was well settled in 
the mind of Abraham. Nothing could have been more 
detrimental to the furtherance of God's cause or purpose 
than for Isaac to marry a foreign woman. How much, 
how very much depends upon whom we take for a wife, and 
equally as much depends upon whom we take for a hus- 
band! The history of the world has proven this, and 
the world is proving it over and over again. 

Eebecca becomes the wife of Isaac. Though, to us, 
their courtship ma}^ seem somewhat rude, it was neverthe- 
less pure, and the parties were honest; and when these 
two principles are present, all else is but formal. When 
these are lacking, formality is but a mask to hide guilt. 
To this union were born twin brothers, Jacob and Esau. 
In this family is laid again the foundation for two classes 
of people. And not only this, but another significant thing 
is that the younger supplants the older ; emphasizing again 
the fact that God can not use the Adamic nature, or the 
first man. Jacob obtains the blessing from his father, 
Isaac. 

The time had now arrived for Jacob to take unto him- 
self a wife. Isaac, with the same precaution as his father, 
Abraham, denies Jacob the right to marry a Canaanite 
woman. To the house of Laban, his mother's brother, 
Jacob must go for a wife. Our purpose is to show to the 



Classification. 21 

reader the watchful care these men of God exercised in 
guarding the family. It is worthy of our notice, also, 
the time at which they began to do so. By and by Jacob 
returns from the house of Laban with Leah and Eachel, 
the two daughters of Laban. From these two marriages 
spring the twelve sons of Jacob, or the twelve tribes of 
the children of Israel. A people of God, having been made 
the offspring of pure ancestors, Jehovah well knew that 
hereditary traits are hard to erase. 

Under the watchful care of their Creator, these people 
greatly multiplied and prospered, until the nations became 
jealous of them. Balak, a certain king, being desirous to 
have this people cursed, sends Balaam, a prophet of God, 
to accomplish his ends, which result in utter failure; for 
who can curse what God has blessed? The prophet 
Balaam having forfeited his calling of God through covet- 
ousness, now turns against Israel; and ere he departed 
from Balak, suggests a most cunning device by which to 
weaken Israel's power ; and this was by courting the favor 
of God's people so that intermarrying would be practiced 
between the two nations. God had given his people a law 
previous to this, forbidding them to marry among other 
nations. Into this snare — for snare it was — Israel went. 
Judgment falls upon them, and rests not until their 
strange wives are put away. Here again Heaven declares 
for the purity of the family, in order that His people may_ 
remain pure. Throughout the Sinaitic covenant, it was 
the decree of Heaven that the purity of the family should 
be closely guarded. The success of the people of God 
always did, and always will, rest upon this basis. Not until 
Solomon had taken unto himself strange wives did he err 
from the counsels of Heaven. After this he was over- 
come by s3Tnpathy for these wives, and, leaving the true 
worship, began the worship of idols. 

From this we learn that strange wives are more than 
a match for wisdom. It is not easy to say what other 



22 "Ammi— My People/' 

affiliation Solomon might have entered into that would 
have proven so dangerous as this. In the special gift of 
wisdom as becomes a king, Solomon had no peer. He 
showed himself to be wise in asking for wisdom. But 
what profit can come from a gift when abused, or from 
opportunity, if not timely seized? Alas! many get wis- 
dom too late. 

We have passed briefly over some of the failures of 
peoples and nations, and pointed out in a short way their 
happiness when purity was maintained, as also their ruin 
and destruction when sin and corruption laid hold upon 
them, as related in the sacred narrative, down to the time 
when the people of God were represented in the twelve 
sons of Jacob. The importance of our heeding the lessons 
of the past is emphasized in the following words: "The 
things, that were written aforehand were written for our 
learning.""^ The index finger of the past points with un- 
erring certainty to the present and future ; and that people 
or nation who heeds it not, will as surely suffer as those 
heedless ones who are recorded in history's pages. 

If by words or means I can awaken the people of God 
to weigh the responsibility resting upon them in the care- 
ful guarding of their homes and children, I shall feel that 
X have not lived in vain. It is to be feared that our homes 
are too much neglected. Our fathers and mothers in the 
past were more concerned in this matter than are those of 
the present day. When we stop to consider how many 
times temptations, which beset our children on every hand, 
have multiplied since some of us passed their way; how 
closely sin, with all that is sinful, is pressing to our homes, 
— does it seem strange that warnings should be multi- 
plied ? Would our hands be free if we fail to give the alarm ? 

Nor did this concern for the children escape the watch- 
ful eye of Jehovah. How tenderly He speaks of the 
Father of the Faithful concerning this righteous charge ! — 



' Bom. zv, 4. 



Classification". 23 

"For I know him, that he will command his children and 
his household after him, and they shall keep the way of 
the Lord to do justice and judgment, that the Lord may 
bring upon Abraham that which He has spoken."^ What 
implicit confidence Abraham's God had in Him ! As also 
let us remember the unshaken confidence Abraham had in 
God. He who believes and loves God will receive belief 
and love from God in return. It is further to be noticed, 
that the keeping the family relation pure was the opening 
way through which the Lord could make good His prom- 
ises to Abraham. Again, it is implied in the language 
quoted, that a breach here would in all probability have 
deprived Abraham of receiving the promise which God 
had made to him. For had Abraham failed in taking care 
of what he had, it would have been sheer waste to have 
given him more. Does God require less at our hands now ? 
Let us beware lest we vainly attempt to shield ourselves 
behind a false love for our families, and throw the mantle 
of indulgence over sin ! 

The apostles suffered" not this charge to pass unnoticed. 
Looking forward to the closing Scenes of the Gentile reign, 
they draw a most alarming picture of the condition existing 
at that time. There is no doubt that much of which they 
speak is present in the world now; but God forbid that 
such things should obtain in the homes and families of 
His people ! The social problem lies at the base of all true 
righteousness. From the family, the fountain, flows the 
stream which turns the wheels of Church and State. Ko 
man is independent of the Divine decree, but is as clay in 
the hands of the potter. Yet how much depends upon the 
kind of clay, is often too lightly considered. The fewest 
of men in all stations of life have succeeded without the 
foundation having been laid under parental influence 
or similar surroundings. Under the conditions which 
meet us in life's struggles we need the power and 



sGen.xvlii, 19. 



24 "Ammi— My People/' 

force of manhood and womanhood at every turn. The 
longer we live, and the more real life becomes, the more 
still do we feel the weight of this demand. In no relatioa 
in life is this demand so forcibly pressed as in the covenant 
of marriage. Nothing is so divinely sacred in timely 
things as this bond; nor is there any institution so basely 
abused. It needs only be affirmed that no society can be 
pure unless the marriage covenant be respected. Xo na- 
tion can long exert an influence for good when her social 
relations become corrupted. No Church organization has 
any power for righteousness so long as her members are 
unclean. The importance of this is strongly urged in 
the apostle's letter to the Church at Corinth. Judging 
from the tenor of his first Epistle, fifth chapter, the family 
relations at Corinth were at a very low standard. Com- 
plex indeed must it have been for one to "have his father's 
wife." From this state of things the material of which 
the congregation at Corinth was composed was most varied ; 
in many respects, not unlike much that we find around us 
to-day. 

From the language of the Epistle the congregation at 
Corinth were Jews. His words are: "And such fornica- 
tion as is not so much as named among the Gentiles.'""^ 
The practice of the Jewish people at this time in regard to 
matrimonial relations admitted of a plurality of wives, 
with other customs which had obtained among them, en- 
tirely at variance with the doctrine of both the law and 
the Gospel. To wean them from a long established usage 
was no small task for the apostle. Long and hard did he 
labor with them before the desired end was accomplished. 
In regard to the act of fornication he gave them counsel 
as to what remedy should be applied in order to purif}^ 
the congregation : "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
when 3'e are gathered together, and my spirit, with the 
power of our Lord Jesus Christ, put away from among 



siCor. V, ]. 



Classification. 25 

yourselves that wicked person." Here the apostle takes a 
stand for purity in the congregation. This brings us again 
to the universal law which runs throughout the whole of 
God's institutions — a power lying within every organism 
to purify itself. When that power is exercised the or- 
ganism lives, and not only lives^ but is pure. "Therefore 
put away from among yourselves that wicked person."^^ 
To many this Scripture has a meaning somewhat mys- 
terious. By some it is thought the apostle here means 
only, that such should be disfellowshiped from the congre- 
gation, and that no further bonds should be placed apon 
them. Others there are who hold that the congregation 
has the power to place a bond between husband and wife, 
father and son, mother and daughter, etc., that would 
separate the one from the other in the family social. That 
this problem is somewhat complex can be observed by 
watching the attention that has been given it. 

There are three ways of dealing with such questions. 
The first is to be at continual unrest as to their meaning. 
The second is, not to regard them at all. The third is to 
endeavor to ascertain the true meaning, and then apply 
it. To be always in doubt as to a remedy for a disease, 
or to pay no heed to its destroying power, will alike prove 
destructive. That the religious bodies of the world have 
become indifferent toward ascertaining a remedy by which 
they might purify their organizations, may be accounted 
for from a lack of power to apply it. The inevitable re- 
sult must be death, sooner or later. This course of pro- 
cedure stands in open violation of law in the most primary 
sense. When any 'body, be it individual, religious, or polit- 
ical, becomes infected with disease, to that extent its power 
is limited, and death follows. 

Further, there can be no more necessary field wherein 
to apply this law than in the Church, the greatest power 
for righteousness the world knows. The Word of Cod is of 



loiCor. V, 13. 



26 "Ammi— My Peopj^e/' 

such a discerning nature that its power can not be meas- 
ured. In guiding the purity of the family, it furnishes 
material for building the Church; but should this ma- 
terial at any time become infected by impurity, the full- 
ness of God's law provides a means by which the Church 
may remove the impurity. Could anything be more con- 
sistent than that this power, exercised by the Church, 
should in turn reach the family? This leads us to the 
problem of discerning what the apostle meant in the lan- 
guage referred to. 

That such a one as should be found guilty of fornica- 
tion should be deposed of his membership, is easily under- 
stood by those who believe in applying law'. In the tenth 
verse of the fifth chapter of First Corinthians we read: 
"Yet not altogether fornicators of this world, for then 
we must need go out of the world."^^ Then in the eleventh 
verse, "But now I have written imto you not to keep com- 
pany, if any man that be called a brother be a fornicator; 
with such an one no not to eat."^^ 

Here are two conclusions drawn ; the first, to avoid com- 
ing in contact, or lieeping company, with a man that is 
called a fornicator, is a moral impossibility, so long as the 
world is as it now is, and God's people are in the world. 
The second conclusion is: With any brother (or member) 
who is guilty of such gross crime, God's people are not to 
eat. Here the apostle i3 placing stress upon the point he 
intends to make when he comes into their presence. If, 
in the first place, he meant social relation — and he could 
mean none other, for that is the only relation that the 
people of God sustain to the world — ^he as surely refers to 
a social relation when it comes to a brother. What he 
affirms on the one side of the question, he as firmly denies 
on the other. We conclude then, the apostle has reference 
to the social meal, and not the sacramental. The placing 
of this ban, or strenuous withdrawal from such sinners, 



n 1 Cor. V, 10. 12 1 Cor. v, 11. 



Classification. 27 

is known as avoidance among the people of God. The rea- 
sonableness of this extreme measure will appear quite con- 
sistent when we consider the power for purity contained 
in it. 

The right of the Church to exercise this power is based 
upon the principle of protecting the innocent. When the 
indulgence in sin has gone to that extent that the body be- 
comes defiled, reason and law demand that a line be drawn. 
The relations of the family are too sacred to be continually 
imposed upon b}^ such extremes. Whilst the family has 
been given a law by which to prepare individuals for God's 
building, it of necessity becomes the right of the Clmrch 
to protect the individual. K'or can this be denied when 
we examine the methods by which God ordained that His 
people should be kept pure under the Mosaic covenant. 
However exterior and outward the law may seem to us, it 
nevertheless contained the means by which the people were 
kept pure bodily; and in every case where there was any 
pollution a separation was ordered. It may be said, "That 
was the natural, but we are under the spiritual." Very 
true; but does not God always take the material in order 
to convey the meaning intended through the spiritual ? In 
order to demonstrate the spiritual, we use the natural to 
apply the meaning. 

Again, any means that will keep the body of Christ 
pure will also keep the family pure. Institutions that are 
alike sacred must be alike guarded. This law is universal. 
Our present surroundings demand -a still further investi- 
gation of the relation existing between the Church and 
the family. The Scriptures being a perfect law by which, 
men can be governed, necessity demands a most careful 
examination of them in order that they be properly un- 
derstood. 

In the seventh chapter of First Corinthians the apostle 
treats at length the subject of marriage and the conditions 
in which many persons find themselves while under that 



28 "Ammi— My People/' 

covenant. Having given directions by which the mosf, 
serious breach of the bond conld be adjusted, he proceeds 
to treat of some minor irregularities that often occur, in 
order that the people of God may not be at a loss to ob- 
tain purity around the communion table; a matter of 
much more importance than is often considered. First, 
the apostle admonishes that it is not good for companions 
in marriage to separate. But if either choose to depart, 
and that be the only choice in the matter, let them depart. 
"A brother or sister is not bound in such cases.^'^^ This 
latitude can only apply in cases where either of the parties 
are unbelievers. Kot so where both are members of the 
body of Christ; for no part of Christ's body can consist- 
ently be separated. The law of purity can only separate 
purity from impurity. If impurity has obtained, then it 
is the duty of the Church to apply the law. After which 
a separation could be granted and not do violence to law. 
"What concord has light with darkness ?"^* 

This brings us to the fourteenth verse of the same 
chapter, in which the apostle refers to a relation existing 
in the Church at Corinth which sets a new problem before 
us. In stating it, he uses the following language: "For 
the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the [believing] 
wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the [believ- 
ing] husband : else were your children unclean ; but now 
are they holy."^^ What the meaning of this Scripture is, 
very many are at a loss to know. It has been, and still is, 
an unsolved problem in the minds of those who have un- 
dertaken to write upon it. One thing is evident, _and that 
beyond dispute, that the apostle is dealing with things per- 
taining to the family, the marriage covenant, and the rela- 
tion which the Church bears to the same. 

While following the connections through the Scrip- 
tures relative to our subject, this quotation crosses our 
path, and we can not consistently pass until we find a solu- 



' 1 Cor. vii, 15. i* 2 Cor. vi, 14. is i Cor . vll, 14. 



Classification". 29 

tion. In building a congregation of God's people at 
Corinth, Panl did not find things made ready to his liand. 
The material that was there had to be used, and Panl conld 
nse that only which lay within his reach. Whilst there 
was zeal manifested, there was a lack of the proper appli- 
cation of it. There was division and contention among 
them. They conld not agree as to their choice of teachers, 
and there was mnch discord in their lawing with one an- 
other ; and yet boasting of their wisdom. Paul, in replying 
to them, declares that, while you are in contention, while 
you are lawing with one another, while you are blind to 
your family relations, your boasted wisdom is for naught; 
and "Ye are carnal and walk as men.''^*^ Yet, with all 
this, they still wanted to accept the Gospel; for indeed it 
must have been hard to resist the reasoning of this man 
of God in defense of his Lord. 

Having noticed in brief some of the things in which 
the Church at Corinth was entangled, we now turn to the 
point at issue. Some there were, being husbands, who be- 
came members of the Church at Corinth, their wives re- 
maining still in unbelief; wives were received into fellow- 
ship, and their husbands were not. Out of this state of 
things springs a relation unlike anything found in the 
records of truth. It stands alone, and not only alone, but 
in direct opposition to everything contained in law or 
grace. Under the law they were forbidden to marry a 
wife who was not an Israelite, the seed of Abraham. All 
children born of this seed were members of the Jewish 
Church by birthright ; this was the order of that law. This 
was but a natural result, for the reason that the entire 
covenant under which that Church lived was founded upon 
natural sacrifices, and could point no further than death. 
Notwithstanding the imperfections of that law, it contained 
the principle of consistency. Like subjects produce like 
offsprings. Thus far our path is clear. Howbeit a new 

wi Cor. ill, 3. 



30 *'Ammi— My People/' 

covenant meets those Jews at Corinth, and Paul as well. 
When we remember there had been nothing spoken or 
written upon this point in the new order of things under 
grace, the question at issue becomes the more complex. 
Let us notice the condition closely which gave rise to the 
Scripture under consideration. 

JSTothing in nature or grace represents things so directly 
opposed one to the other, and yet joined together. A union 
of two subjects belonging to the same kingdom is law and 
harmony. But our finding here is directly the opposite. 
One is of light, the other of darkness; one of time, the 
other of eternity; one of peace, the other of confusion; 
one of heaven, the other of earth; and still so joined to- 
gether as to be one. Need we wonder the apostle en- 
gages his mind with the subject ? Nor is it to be thought 
strange that it has been so little understood in the minds 
of men. It has no counterpart in revelation. Similarity 
of parts and equality of subjects, has been the watchword. 
Conformity to type has been the law in every kingdom. 
What, then, shall this offspring be likened unto ? A prod- 
uct of two, subjects so far separated in type would, of 
necessity, make a breach in the law; and when law is 
broken, confusion reigns. This is not the order of God's 
house, and should not be the order of His people. At one 
time in the history of the children of Israel the law con- 
cerning foreign marriage had been broken. This breach 
was made when they took them wives from the land of 
Ashdod. The result was, their children's language was 
divided. Half of their language was in the tongue of 
Canaan, and half in the tongue of Ashdod. Here is a 
literal solution of our question from a natural standpoint. 
Those who transgress law must suffer; there was no ex- 
ception in this case. 

It may be in place to note here, at that time it was 
said that, should "the fathers eat sour grapes it would set 
the children's teeth on edge." The meaning was, the ef- 



Classification. 31 

feet of sin would be noticeable upon the children, and here 
is the proof. Furthermore, at that time judgment fol- 
lowed closely upon the steps of the transgressor ; but this is 
the day of grace, though not without law. Again, we must 
remember the time has come "when judgment must begin 
at the house of God,^' and judgment is the only principle 
that will sustain law. Should judgment fall upon the 
subjects, being so unlike yet joined into one body, the re- 
sult, according to law and reason, would make the children 
unclean, upon the most natural of causes. Thus it will be 
seen, by sustaining law through a process of reasoning we 
arrive at the same conclusion as did the apostle, — the off- 
spring being unclean. When we set ourselves the task of 
interpreting the Scriptures by giving heed to harmony of 
principle, we need have no fears as to the correctness of our 
conclusions. When the voice of nature and the voice of 
law are kept in harmony, their echo is the sound which 
leads the way to the spiritual. When men and mankind 
cease to abuse nature and nature's laws, then, and only 
then, will they be permitted to behold and enjoy the spir- 
itual. "For if ye have not been faithful in that which is 
another man's, who will give you that which is your 
own?"^^ But for one thing, the children of parents who 
are not subjects of the same kingdom would be unclean. 
This is the sum of the apostle's reasoning, and the law of 
God proves him to be correct. Nevertheless marriage is 
honorable, and God has sanctified that covenant. Whilst 
God does not force mankind to serve Him, He does not 
permit the doings of one to be chargeable to the other. 
Hence in order to establish peace and free-will service. 
He does, by the apostle, annul the natural result of law 
b)^ giving the power of sanctif3dng influence unto His 
people. 

Here, again, we find the power to preserve purity upon 
the earth vested in the people of God. For this cause "the 

"Lukexvl, 12. 



32 "Ammi— My People." 

unbelieving wife is sanctified by tlie hnsband, and tlie un- 
believing husband is sanctified by the wife/^^* Let it be 
understood^ however, this sanctifying influence can reach 
no further than to affect the condition of the offspring. 
The unbelieving wife and the unbelieving husband are 
still in an unsanctified condition before God, and must 
become believers and doers of God's Word before they are 
free from uncleanness in sin. How infinitely wise and 
good are the wa3^s of the Creator! How indulgent and 
forbearing, ahvays adapting His demands within the 
bounds of our ability to perform ! 

Seeing that the union of two subjects so far separated 
can, at the best, present a relation which in a great degree 
is complex, hence, in order to be consistent and maintain 
law, the apostle concludes the matter most harmoniously, 
in the following words. "The wife is bound by the law, as 
long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, 
she is at liberty to marry whomsoever she will, onhj in the 
Lord/'^^ Here is a most plausible solution of the matter, 
and one which involves no complexity whatever. Let the 
sister who becomes a widow by the death of her husband 
(not a widow by the decree of the court — such widows and 
Avidowers are becoming too numerous for purity to have 
place), marry if she so desires; but let her marry a brother. 
This is law and order as well as Gospel; and this is the 
proper way to maintain purity upon the earth. 

The question has been asked, "Does this command in- 
clude those who have never been married?" The answer 
is, the language applies to all the members of the body of 
Christ; there can not be two laws to govern the same peo- 
ple upon the same thing. Herein is the simplicity and 
harmony in the law of God and His people. If we admit 
nature to speak in behalf of law, her answer is, the surest 
way to destroy purity is to hybridise the seed. It could 
be here said once more, "Doth not even nature itself teach 



18 1 Cor. vii, 14. i^ 1 Cor. vii, 



Classification. 33 

you ?" Nor is this all when we consider that the law which 
God gave to the house of Israel, in relation to our subject, 
proved its claim to the letter when obeyed. The captivity 
in Babylon forever cured that people of two things, — inter- 
marriage among other nations, and idolatrous worship. 
Again the Scriptures sustain our position. By no other 
means could this people sustain their race distinction, — 
scattered throughout all nations, persecuted without re- 
straint, mingling in almost all the pursuits of life in their 
many years of wandering, and yet holding their individ- 
uality of type. 

The Allwise God has decreed that, until the Gentile's 
time be fulfilled, this people shair remain without priest or 
altar. But in His own due time He will gather them 
again, and that gathering will be most glorious. More 
than this, they are to retain their tribal relations so per- 
fectly that each shall possess his own portion as of old. 
Jehovah's hand, and every other hand, has been against 
them ; still the fact remains, they have guarded well their 
race. And by no other means could this have been done 
but by adhering to the law, "Ye shall not take unto your- 
selves strange wives."^° We need only consider the work- 
ings of God with this people to be assured of the correctness 
of the position taken in this paper. To all who fear God, 
and love His ways, this should be a wholesome lesson. 
What could be more corrupt among the Gentile people at 
this time than their disrespect for the marriage covenant 
as a nation ? Even the religious world is honeycombed with 
such disrespect. And are not the families of God's people 
showing the effect of this unholy influence which sur- 
rounds them ? Hear our Lord upon this point : "A man's 
foes shall be of his own household ;"^^ as also the apostle : 
"Children shall be without natural affection."^^ 

This condition into which the world has come is not a 
curse sent upon us from God, but the harvest of unholy 



' Ezra X, 2. 21 Matt, x, 26. 22 Rom. i, 31. 

3 



34 "Ammi — My People/' 

seeds of our own sowing. A curse it is, in truth ; but the 
cause remains with the world, like the curse of blindness 
which remains with the house of Israel to-day. We are 
living in an age of momentous events. Tlie flesh, the 
world, and the devil have corrupted almost everything. 
And yet the pulpit and press cease not their boasting of 
our greatness and goodness. "When they cry peace and 
safety, sudden destruction cometh upon them."^^ How our 
hearts burn for our children ! Would that we could rescue 
them from the gulf of iniquity, which is drawing them into 
its depths! The prophet of Israel when viewing the like 
condition among his people cried out, "0 that my head 
were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might 
weep for the slain of the daughters of my people !"-* 

There can not be too much stress put upon the neces- 
sity of guarding our children. The first and most noble 
thing to do for them is to give them a life worthy of imita- 
tion. The second is to provide wholesome books for them 
to read. In this many are lacking. It is not enough for 
us, as parents, to feed and clothe our children; the mind 
must be fed and clothed as well. If this is neglected, the 
greater part of our work is undone. We should take them 
near us, near our hearts, and make them feel and know 
they are indeed a part of us. Whilst we dare not rear our 
children in idleness, we should be as far from making 
slaves of them. Above all things, gain and keep their con- 
fidence ; without that, failure is sure to come. Sympathize 
with them in their disappointments; they have them as 
well as we. Their joys should be our joys, their sorrows 
our sorrows; remembering always that a child's cares fall 
as heavily upon them as ours do upon us. They may seem 
small to us from our point of view, but children can not 
look at the world as we can. It is our duty to go to them, 
go where they are; and who of us, that would be God's 
people, could not enjoy the pure field of childhood, where 



231 Thess. V, 3. 24 jer. ix, 1. 



Classification. 35 

everything is real and true, — a field where purity reigns 
and innocence is bliss? Should we not be the better by 
our going? Have fathers and mothers grown so cold and 
world-hardened as to become dead to the demands of their 
children ? 

Let us remember that, of all things on earth, nothing 
so fitly represents heaven as a well-ordered family. Where 
father's word is never doubted, and his character above 
reproach; where the wife and mother is loved, honored, 
and comforted; where the children love and respect one 
another, each sharing in mutual love the blessings of a 
happy family, — the Lord our God has said, "I will be a 
father unto them, and they shall be my sons and my daugh- 
ters."^^ Despite all our claims of keeping the faith, of 
being orthodox in obeying the commandments, if we have 
made shipwreck of the family, our hands are not clean; 
nor were Eli's, the man of Israel. Who can measure the 
depth of that reproach in judgment when our children 
condemn us for a lack of duty toward them ? Let us pause 
here, and consider for a moment. This is the master- 
wheel in the whole economy of grace. It is the pivot upon 
which the principle of classification turns. Wc may not 
discern it, nevertheless the fact remains. Casting away 
the greed for this world and the strivings thereof, and 
standing in the presence of our family and of our God, 
let us ask ourselves the question. Am I doing my duty to 
my children as God requires at my hand? Eternity will 
echo the answer by and by. 

And you, my sons and daughters, cast aside for a sea- 
son the world and all that is sinful, and, while you stand 
before your God, who is the author of all you have, and 
there meditate upon life and its emptiness, tell me as you 
would want eternity to speak for you, are you heeding the 
counsel of your God-fearing father and mother; or are 
you turning a deaf ear to their pleadings, and spurning. 



26 Jer. xxxi, 9. 



36 "Ammi— My People/' 

if onl}^ by neglect, their earnest prayers in your behalf? 
She who cared for you, when you could not care for your- 
self; whose weakened body and tottering steps now bear 
witness of her fidelity to you; the one that gave you life 
and loved you as none on earth could ; the one who denied 
herself of many things that she might add to your comfort, 
— can you now tell me the depth of that remorse of soul 
when in judgment you stand condemned because of not 
heeding her counsel or her prayer? Let me ask you, 
youths of our land and of God's people, can you still go 
on drawing iniquity as with a cord of vanity, and sin as 
with a cart-rope, and moving as an ox to the slaughter, 
and as a fool to the correction of the stocks? Yea, let me 
plead with you, — now, before it is too late, while life is 
yours, and ere the night of death overtakes you: choose 
wisdom's path ; hearken unto her voice, and she will teach 
you the fear of the Lord. "Wisdom is the principal thing, 
therefore get wisdom."^^ "For they that be wise shall 
shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that 
turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and 
ever."^^ 

" Shall wisdom cry aloud 

And not her speech be heard? . 
The voice of God's eternal Son, — 

Deserves it no regard?" 

And to God's people wherever found, let a word be 
spoken to you in silence, before this chapter is closed ; yet 
though it be in silence, it will give no uncertain sound. 
Look well to the companions of your children ; guard care- 
fully this point in their life. If our sons and daughters 
are taught to respect their parents and themselves, then 
will they know how to respect others. Remember that 
your children may not always stay with you, nor you with 
them. We are, in one sense, bringing them up to live with 
some one else. If children are taught to feel and realize 



' Prov. iv, 7. 27 Dan. xii, 3. 



Classificatio:n". 37 

the responsibility of life before it overtakes them, it will 
help them much when cares and sorrows come. Above all, 
neglect not to counsel them in making choice of a com- 
panion through life. The history of the people of God 
has been briefly reviewed, and the result is, in this they 
have proved themselves unwatchful. N'ot that we may 
always succeed ; still an effort, and a strong one, should be 
made to guide our children to a companionship where faith 
is mutual. For indeed the time is short. Soon, and very 
soon, the time will come "when they who have wives shall 
be as though they had none, and they that buy as though 
they possessed not." 

What a lasting comfort it must have been to Mary of 
old to have heard from the lips of her Lord and Master, 
"Let her alone. She has done what she could !'^ No 
less shall be the meaning of the words to those who prove 
themselves worthy. 'Not are we without their force now. 
It has been said that "Wherever this Gospel is preached, 
this that this woman hath done shall be spoken of as a 
memorial of her." When Christ came, the Jewish people 
had the ritualism of the law, but had ^ost the virtue of 
the law by having omitted the weightier things contained 
in that law. 



BELIEF AND UNBELIEF. 

Everything has a history, because everything is pass- 
ing. History is but the narrative of passed events. The 
fact that history is ever repeating itself is based upon the 
unity of law which governs the subjects upon which his- 
tory is written. History appeals to ns as an educator; it 
was so intended by the Spirit of inspiration : "The things 
that were written beforehand were written for our learn- 
ing."^ How much we gather from history, is measured by 
the stress of belief we have in it. There is one fact peculiar 
to all true history, and that is, it reaches from one extreme 
to the other, giving completeness. The mind of man 
stands ready to meet it upon equal grounds, belief or dis- 
belief. The power to choose is the pinnacle of man's in- 
dividualism. To believe or disbelieve — ^within this domain 
lies the means of development. Man's character is built 
upon what he accepts as a fact, j^ot that it is a fact be- 
cause he believes it to be so ; men and mankind very often 
believe things that are not facts; but whether the thing 
be true or false,, so long as he accepts it and believes it, the 
thing believed becomes a part of himself, and must of 
necessity enter into his character to the extent that he be- 
lieves it. We are a part of all we see and hear. 

What, then, is belief? Trust, confidence, acceptance 
of anything whether assumed or proven. History being 
an educator, fully explains the purpose for which the 
Scriptures were written. There is another term so closely 
related to history in connection with the Scriptures that 
we can not escape it. Of such force and power is this word 
that men in all times and in all nations have been unable 



Rom. XV, 4. 

38 



Belief and Unbelief. 39 

to cope with it. It has been the flaming sword that has 
guarded the foundation of revelation since Eden was de- 
filed. To the one it has been a comfort and consolation 
through all generations; a star that pierced the darkest 
night; a lighthouse amidst the breakers on life's troubled 
sea. To the other it has been an impenetrable cloud of 
mystery ; a quaking foundation of sand upon which stands 
the temple of doubt; the rock upon which many of life's 
ships have stranded. This is none other than the Spirit 
of Prophecy. To have omitted this, revelation would not 
have been half complete. Herein lies the proof of the 
divinity of the Scriptmes, an incontrovertible reason why 
men should believe them. In the providence of God, He 
has thought best to join history and prophecy so unsepara- 
bly together that the one depends upon the other for its 
completion. 

To define the term prophecy would be to say, "History 
v.Titten beforehand." The Scriptures are wholly composed 
of these two kinds of writing ; the one relating to the other. 
History looks to prophecy to complete the truth, while 
prophecy in turn looks to history to confirm the truth; 
thus giving us the most positive ground upon which to 
rest belief — a combination of evidence that can not fail. 
How readily the Apostle Paul, grasped this thought is seen 
in the following words: "For the invisible things from 
the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood 
by the things that are made, even His eternal power and 
Godhead; so they are without excuse."^ The infinite God 
asks us to take nothing for granted. What He asks us to 
believe. He qualifies. So to the Jews our Lord said : "Ye 
believe in God, believe also in Me."^ Xeither did He con- 
fine them to His words only. "But believe Me for the 
work's sake; the work that I do is a testimony of My 
power." Here is truth qualified, and this was the mission 
of our Divine Savior while incarnate upon earth. He said 



2 Rom. i, 20. 3 John xiv, 1. 



40 "Ammi— My People/' 

He came to fulfill the law and the prophets. Again, when 
they questioned Him concerning why He did many things. 
His answer was, "That the Scriptures might not be 
broken." 

Lastly, His final defense before Pilate was, "To this 
end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, 
that I might bear witness to the truth."* When he finished 
the work His Father had given Him to do ; when He had 
vindicated all that was prophesied concerning Him; when 
he had crowned Calvary with His own blood; when in His 
rising from the dead he triumphed over death, hell, and 
the grave ; when He had given that people many infallible 
proofs, yet did they not believe in Him. Hear His rebuke : 
"0, fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets 
have said!"^ 

The crowning sin of the Jewish people was unbelief. 
N'o one can read the history of that people and nation, and 
fail to see this fact. They believed up to the point of de- 
liverance from bondage and Pharaoh's power, but disbe- 
lieved in the means that God had chosen to give them the 
Promised Land. They believed in the past, but doubted 
as to how the future would end. They abandoned their 
belief in God and in Moses. They disbelieved God's power ; 
they disbelieved His word ; they disbelieved His means ; 
and for this they died in the wilderness. "So they entered 
not in because of unbelief."® 

The Gentile nation is writing the same history of un- 
belief. Paradoxical as it may seem, these two histories of 
unbelief are written by believers. All Israel believed in 
a Messiah to come, but doubted His manner of coming. 
They believed in a deliverer, but rejected the means of de- 
liverance. Likewise the Gentile nation, from Nebuchad- 
nezzar to the present time, has had its times and seasons 
when it believed in God. That time, no doubt, has passed 
in many places, and is still passing; for the reason tliey 



4 John xviil, 37. & Luke xxlv, 25. e Heb. iv, 6. 



Belief and Un^belief. 41 

doubted the revelation that God gave of Himself. "For 
He left Himself not without a witness."'^ 

The gross darkness that has covered the Eastern coun- 
tries is being seen and felt in the Western as well. How 
reasonable it is that this should be so ! He who rejects 
light must abide in darkness; he who will not believe can 
have none other than unbelief. This is a problem that has 
but two sides; a feature which runs throughout the deal- 
ings of God with man, — a chance to choose. To believe 
in God necessarily implies a belief in the revelation of 
God ; and, more than that, it further demands an accepta- 
tion of that revelation. This is regular, and this is the 
Scriptural conception of the word believe. Abraham be- 
lieved God, accepted the terms of God; and this was 
counted unto him as righteousness in the sight of God. "If 
thou believest with all thine heart,"^ was the condition 
upon which Philip based righteousness, when baptizing the 
Ethiopian eunuch. In the. Parable of the Sower our Lord 
says: "But that which is sown on good ground are they 
who in an honest and good heart, having received the Word, 
keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience." 

The condition in which we find the greater part of the 
religious world at present is that they believe in disbelief. 
The extent of this condition is evidenced upon every hand. 
Few are they who believe the whole of God's Word. Many 
believe in its authorship and the purpose for which it is 
given, but grossly disbelieve in the means that have been 
employed to accomplish the end. They try to satisfy them- 
selves in believing that something short of what God has 
said is sufficient; just a little less than what has been re- 
quired, will suit the purpose better. Thousands believe 
that Jesus Christ was a Teacher come from God; yet, in 
one way or another, they persuade themselves into believing 
that He did not mean all He said. With their whole heart 
they believe in the all-sufficient sacrifice upon Calvary, but 



7 Acts xiv, 17. 8 Acts vlU, 37. 



42 "Ammi — My People/' 

fail utterly to believe and realize tha-^ they, too, must come 
to the cross, where self must be sacrificed. In this way of 
believing we imitate more closely the enemy of God than 
the people of God. "The devils believe and tremble,"^ 

The Scriptural teaching is, that to believe is the start- 
ing point of man^s approach to God. This is the founda- 
tion upon which all that follows must rest. "For he that 
Cometh to God must believe that He is God, and that He 
is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."^" What- 
ever structure we may desire to build, whatever else we may 
^eel inclined to do, the success of it all depends upon the 
character and kind of belief that has prompted it. Only 
believe, and thou shalt be saved, is a Scriptural expression ; 
but implies somewhat more than is expressed. The un- 
qualified, unlimited use of the word believe is a dangerous 
error into which many have fallen. It is voiced from the 
pulpit, it is echoed through the press and from the plat- 
form ; it is the signal of the coming of the Lord. But are 
we not justified in making some further demands? Be- 
lief can no more save a man than faith without works. Be- 
lief of itself is far more apt to make a man a devil than a 
Christian. It needs qualification, and that qualification 
lies in the act of giving evidence by obedience to the thing 
believed. The command is, "Believe all things, teach all 
things, obey all things ;"^^ then the promise is, "Lo, I am 
with you alway.'^ 

Here are four alls that will not admit of the least lim- 
itation. To stake ourselves upon any other premises, is but 
to occupy the ground of presumption, which is the cro^\m- 
ing sin of Lucifer, and the great sin of which the psalmist 
speaks. The poet expresses the kind of belief which heaven 
demands in the following lines: 

"A humble, lowly contrite heart, 
Believing, true, and clean." 



9 James li, 19. lOHeb. xi, 6. " Matt, xxvlii, 20. 



Belief and Unbelief. *43 

Here is belief qualified, an unlimited acceptance of 
all that has been commanded. This comprehends much 
more than is contained in the abstract expression, "only 
believe/' It embraces more than the generality of pro- 
fessors are offering us, and which means so little when 
offered. Paul, in speaking of the time when men shall call 
on God to the saving of their souls, says, "How shall they 
call on Him in whom they have not believed ?"^^ Yet 
these same Jewish brethren were believers in the Scrip- 
tures; and still disobedient and gainsaying people; still 
exercising great zeal. 

The past is fraught with living examples which teach 
the emptiness of belief without the proper qualification. 
Who should then be so thoughtless as to build upon the 
foundation where others have failed? The warning our 
Lord gave to the people who listened to His words was, 
"Take heed how you hear.'' With equal emphasis may it 
be said. Take heed how you believe, and what you believe. 
Faith and belief are so closely related that we are often 
found holding them as terms of like meaning; indeed the 
Scriptures use them in this way very often. Granting 
that this is so : then, if there can be a dead faith, there can 
also be a dead belief; and at this point the danger lies in 
accepting the force of the word believe, while omitting the 
attributes from which the power is drawn. 

By a careful study of the Scriptures we can easily dis- 
cover the necessity of accepting them only in their fullest 
meaning. Had the Jewish nation strictly adhered to this 
rule, they would n^ver have reaped such a harvest of dis- 
appointment and ruin. Man's development in any field 
is based upon action; action awaits thought to touch the 
lever ; belief is the miniature machine of which thought is 
the operator; whilst the entire arrangement lies in one 
sense hid, — remembering, however, that nothing is worthy 



12 Rom. X, 14. 



44 "Ammi — My People/'' 

of believing that has not incontrovertible facts upon which 
to rest ; and this is the basis of all revelation. 

Hidden nnder the surface, deep down beneath the ages 
of time, like gold within the mountain, were the things 
upon which the glory of Israel rested, yet not without the 
clearest evidence of His coming beauty. What pen can 
describe the majestic strength which lies enfolded within 
the acorn shell? But have we not the strongest evidence 
that a silent power is there? The field for belief, like 
faith, lies within the future, and the certainty of this is 
known only to the Infinite; and for this reason man is 
often found doubting, and yet believing up to a certain 
boundary, marked only by known facts. This is the ex- 
tent of man's willingness to believe; beyond that, doubt 
reigns. Not that the past offers no opportunity for testing 
man's power of believing : by no means ; but should he fail 
to accept what the past has offered, but seize the oppor- 
tunity of the present, by believing in what the future 
promises, the start is in the right direction. It was said 
to Thomas, "Blessed is he who has not seen, and yet has 
believed." A belief from a heart of love, and a faith that 
works by love, have the assurance of bringing their pos- 
sessor into a saving relation to his God. This must be the 
prerequisite before any success for heaven and happiness 
can be attained. 

"But what saith the Scriptures? The word is nigh 
thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart ; that is, the word 
of faith which we preach: that if thou shalt confess with 
thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart 
that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be 
saved."^^ Separate this Scripture from all others that 
have been written; take it in itself, and of itself ; then we 
have very little else to do. Can it be said that this is a 
safe way of interpreting the Scriptures? Have we the 
license to follow the practice of separating what God has 



i3Rom.x, 8. 



Belief and Unbelief. 45 

joined together? What further warning do we need as a 
precaution against such a course than the words of the 
Apostle Peter: "No Scripture is of any private inter- 
pretation."^* If by severing the Scriptures we can estab- 
lish the first position, then by the same process of reason- 
ing we can annihilate the entire revelation by arraying it 
against itself ; a most fruitful source of establishing unbe- 
lief. 

Nothing can so forcibly demonstrate infidelity to the 
Word of God than an eifort to curtail its meaning. Though 
written by the hands of many men, in numerous periods of 
the world's history, one spirit and intent does most har- 
moniously pervade the whole. The word "believe" as ap- 
plied to the revelation of God can admit of no limitation. 
When once we assure ourselves of the fact that the mes- 
sage from heaven is perfection, because of having a perfect 
Author, there can be no grounds for limitation. No doubt 
much could have been written that was not written ; but the 
Spirit saw good to write no more; giving us evidence that 
we have foundation enough upon which to establish belief, 
if we wish to believe ; and to this the apostle bears witness 
in the following words : "And many other signs truly did 
Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not writ- 
ten in this book : but these are written that ye might be- 
lieve that Jesus is the Son of God; and that believing ye 
might have life through His name."^^ "Come hither and 
hear the words of the Lord your God : Hear this, all ye peo- 
ple; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the earth; high and 
low, rich and poor, together; incline your ear and come 
unto Me, hear and your soul shall live."^® 

In the language of St. Augustine, "Has God asked any- 
thing unreasonable ?" Are not all His ways equal ? Shall 
He who is perfection require more than justice at our 
hands? What say you, man? Will you attempt to 
argue against God ? Are you yet unwilling to believe Him 



" 2 Peter i, 20. is John xx, 30. le Psalm xlix, 1. 



46 ''Ammi — My People/' 

who is so ready to believe j'ou? Where is there an earthly 
friend whom, after having vouchsafed so much, you would 
dare disbelieve? Would you or could you be worthy of a 
friend on earth, or consistently claim one in heaven ? The 
law and the prophets were enough to teach the rich man 
wisdom, but it remained for death and hell to impress the 
fact. He that will not be ruled by the rudder, must be 
ruled by the rock. If we will not hear and believe what 
has been given, more would avail nothing. 

How exceedingly false was the cry, "Let Christ, the 
King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may 
see and believe."^'' If those doubting ones had not seen 
and heard sufficient to enable them to believe. His coming 
down from the cross would have but mocked their madness. 
The world needs no more evidence of the truth, but it does 
need more belief in the truth. 

Who can measure the depth of man's blindness in unbe- 
lief when once its victim? Few are they who correctly 
weigh the opportunity of accepting the terms of God now. 
It may be a very little thing to disbelieve man, but let us 
consider well what it is to disbelieve God. Ananias and 
his wife might have escaped had they lied only to man; 
but there was no escape when lying to God. To you who 
are still living in unbelief, what excuse have you upon 
which to build a hope when all else fails you? Sooner or 
later 3^ou will be given up to despair and darkness. "Out 
of a hard and impenitent heart you are left to treasure up 
wrath against the day of wrath and the righteous indigna- 
tion of God."i« 

The impenetrable darkness that must of necessity fol- 
low disbelief in God and His Word is most forcibly taught 
in the life of the Jewish nation. Time and again did 
Jesus assure them that His mission was to fulfill the law 
and the prophets, which He proved by every act in their 
presence; but stiU they cried out for a sign in order that 

17 Mark xv, 32. w Rom. ii, 5. 



Belief and Unbelief. 47 

they might believe. Was it not enough to see the waves 
and the sea obey him ? Could there be room to doubt His 
power to feed the soul after having fed the multitude from 
the loaves and fishes ? He who could heal the natural man 
by the power vested in Himself, argued strongly His 
ability to restore the spiritual. 

When the grave held the body of Lazarus until disso- 
lution began its work, this Savior of Israel proved His 
power by restoring the dead to life. When the sun refused 
to shine, and the rocks would hold their peace no longer; 
when the veil was rent that man might see the beauty of 
the dwelling-place of God on earth, — was this not enough ? 
It was indeed for one, and his cry was, ^^Surely this man 
was the Son of God !" Who is the one that can not feel 
strong when the assurance is given that the prayer of Jesus 
is in his behalf? This the people of God have from the 
voice of their Lord, "Neither pray I for these alone, but 
for all them that believe on Me through their word/' 



DOCTEINE. 

That the word ^'Doctrine'^ should be a familiar term 
in the Scriptures is as consistent as that every building 
should have a foundation. The principles upon which the 
Church of Christ is built is called the "Doctrine of Sal- 
vation." Destroy the doctrine, and the building will fall. 
It is because of the eternal substance of the foundation of 
the Church that Christ has said that "The gates of hell 
shall not prevail against it.'^^ 

The nation to whom the prophet spoke was assured of 
the completeness of that foundation in the following 
words : "Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, 
a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation: 
he that believeth shall not make haste.''^ The success of 
any building depends greatly upon the nature of its foun- 
dation. The assurance we have of the surety of the foun- 
dation upon which the Church rests is expressed in the 
words of our Lord: "Upon this rock will I build my 
Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."^ 
Nor is there any other foundation upon which we have any 
assurance to build ; "For other foundation can no man lay 
than that is laid."* We need have no fears about the 
security t)f the foundation, or doctrine, upon which our 
faith should stand: the warning is: "Let every man take 
heed how he buildeth thereupon."^ 

The Pharisees had destroyed the efficacy of their re- 
ligion by building spurious doctrine upon this foundation. 
The caution which Jesus gave to His disciples was: "Be- 
ware of the doctrine of the Pharisees."^ While they 



1 Matt, xvi, 18. 2 isa. xxviil, 16. 3 Matt, xvl, 18. 

4 1 Cor. ni, n. 5 1 Cor. ill, 10. 6 Matt, xvl, 12. 

48 



Doctrine. 49 

taught much of the law in its proper meaning, they had, by 
mixing unsound dictrine with their teaching, destroyed the 
virtue of their religion, insomuch that Christ said unto 
His disciples: "Except your righteousness exceed the 
righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye can in no case 
enter the kingdom of heaven/'^ 

Possibly there never was a more opportune time to em- 
phasize the importance of "taking heed unto the doctrine"* 
of Christ than now. Paul, the apostle of Jesus Christ 
to the Gentiles, gave warning to his son Timothy in words 
that have increased in meaning as the years have rolled by. 
He expresses his anxiety in the following words: "Take 
heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine." When once an 
indifference to doctrine seizes hold of the religious world, 
it will be found without faith; for there can be no faith 
where there is nothing upon which to build faith. The 
house of Israel had come to the time when the prophet 
was forced to say of them, "Their stock is a doctrine of 
vanities,"^ and for this reason they were brutish in their 
relation to God and one another. 

The danger of the disciples of Jesus coming in con- 
tact with unsound doctrine our Lord foresaw; hence the 
warning, "Beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees." That 
danger is no less now than it was ilien, and the history of 
all religious bodies stands as an evidence of that fact; and 
the worst of all is, those who call themselves Christian 
have shown the greatest degree of unstableness. The doc- 
trine of to-day stands tottering to give place for some new 
theme of to-morrow; the faith of the present only awaits 
the higher criticism of the near future ; and so it comes to 
pass that we are carried about by every wind of doctrine 
until nothing but quaking sod is left upon which to build. 
There can be no stronger evidence of our fidelitij to the 
cause of Christ than to hold His doctrine unchangeable 
and immovable. This is the warning that has come down 



TMatt. V, 20. siTim.iv, 16. 9Jer.x,8. 

4 



50 "Ammi— My People/' 

to us from the lips of men who were faithful. Paul's cry; 
was, "Be ye steadfast and unmovable/'^*^ "0, Timoth}^ 
keep that which has been committed to thy trust/'^^ 
Upon the other hand, there can be no greater way of show- 
ing our infidelity to Christ and His doctrine than by con- 
tinually doctoring the doctrine. 

Man has corrupted, and is still continuing to corrupt, 
the doctrine of Christ; but let him beware of the mistake 
that he can build Christianity upon corrupt doctrine. A 
religion may be corrupted, but Christianity never. The 
reason is, that a religion ceases to be Christian so soon as 
the doctrine is corrupted. We need no more reliable evi- 
dence of the divinity of the doctrine of the Gospel of Jesus 
Christ than its unsuitableness to the mind of man. Grant 
for once that the imprint of man, and man^s ideal, may be 
stamped upon the face of that doctrine, and that fact itself 
would show its weakness and the fallible source from 
which it came. Nor could it contain any saving merit, 
since nothing can rise higher than its source. This of itself 
should be sufficient cause to warn men and mankind, in 
all ages, from presuming to add to or subtract from that 
which Heaven has ordained for the salvation of man. 

The Jewish- nation — Christ's own people — no doubt 
would have accepted His nativity; they could have found 
no fault with His poverty; but they would not, and could 
not, endure His doctrine. It was antagonistic to their 
idea of the Messiah, whom they had been long expecting; 
nor could they harmonize their interpretation of the 
prophets with it. His teaching was at variance with their 
position at every turn, and crossed them on every path; 
and for this reason they cast Him out as a deceiver ; claim- 
ing that, "if you let this man go,"^- the Eomans will come 
and take away this people and nation. They said, "He is 
beside himself." 

The mission of Christ upon the earth was to establish 



1 Cor. XV, 58. 11 1 Tim. vi, 20. « John xv, 12. 



Doctrine. ■ 51 

a personality which should contain the attributes of God 
exemplified in a manner within the reach of man. The 
power of that mission lay in His words and work, which, 
if man would imitate, he might partake of the attributes 
of that personality. And the manner of this manifesta- 
tion the apostle has expressed in the following words: 
"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the 
glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from 
glory to glory, even by the Spirit of the Lord.^'^^ This 
it? the result-; the means, however, are embodied in the doc- 
trine upon which the principle is based. The condition 
through which the means may be obtained are to be found 
in the words of the Master: "If any man will do His 
will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, 
or whether I speak of M3^self."^* Here is the condition: 
"If any man will do His will;" the negative is, If a man 
will not do that which Christ wills he shall do, he can 
not know what that doctrine is. 

The first principle of the doctrine of Christ, in which 
His glory was shown, is in self-denial : "If any man will 
be My disciple, let him deny himself f^^ bringing the con- 
flict within man's own self, and offering no opportanity 
for either party in the conflict to escape. A man may not 
den}^ his neighbor, or his brother, but must deny himself ; 
and this answers the question why so many hesitate to 
enter the contest,^ and why so many fail who do enter. 
That the most severe battle should engage us in the onset, 
in the very beginning of our struggle for success, may 
seem to us as in some degree an extreme trial. 

To array man against himself, is to bring him in con- 
tact with the most unrelenting foe that he shall ever meet 
in life. Self has destroyed more lives than all the armies 
the world has gathered in battle; it has buried love, pros- 
trated peace, laughed at others' misfortunes, spurned the 
poor, broken up the home, divided the nations, sowed dis- 



13 2 Cor. iii, 18. n John vii, 17. ^s Matt, xvi, 24. 



52 • "Ammi— My People/' 

cord among brethren, scorned the Church, and mocked 
God. Self may be held in restraint, but never acknowl- 
edges defeat; it is the ever-present force seeking to escape 
at the slightest turn of the valve ; a caged beast that never 
turns its eye for fear of losing sight of the open door. 
Self is the mother of Deception, who is not only blind to 
the interest of others, but, losing sight of her own, forces 
her envious presence when the individual would do good: 
"For when I would do good, evil was present."^® It has 
been said, "A man's self may be the worst fellow to con- 
verse with in the world;" and it may be further said, "A 
man's self is the hardest fellow to keep peace with." Can 
there be any advancement for good until such a one is 
brought under control ? Until we are made free from 
this tyrant, will he permit us to serve another ? One man, 
it has been said, conquered the world, but was a slave to 
self, and finally fell its victim. 

Shall we continue to ask why this fiercest of conflicts 
was introduced in the opening of the campaign for liberty ? 
If so, the answer is. There is no other conflict; the entire 
warfare of life is contained in subduing self. Our Lord 
was right when He made His demand; it was upon this 
question the tempter met Him in the desert, and there 
focused his power upon the three weakest points that flesh 
is heir to — over-confidence, other-confidence, and under- 
confidence. From one of these principles sin takes its be- 
ginning, and self produces the thought as well as the act. 
"If Thou be the Son of God, command these stones to be 
made bread."^^ The temptation lay in the act of asking 
Jesus to have over-confidence in Himself to the extent that 
He would perform a work of creation in the absence of 
God. Creation alone belongs to the Father, and this the 
Son acknowledged in His reply : "Man liveth not by bread 
alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth 
of God.^'^^ Other-confidence was contained in the act of 



16 Rom. vii, 21. " Matt. Iv, 3. is Matt, iv, 4. 



Doctrine. 53 

tempting Jesus to put Himself into the care of angels in- 
stead of the hands of God. Under-confidence lay in re- 
questing Jesus to worship a being other than God, one 
who was under and inferior to God. Within these three 
points will be found the arena in which the Devil, the 
World, and Self challenge the doctrine of God and His 
Son. To overcome the world is to overcome self, and this 
our Lord qualified in saying, ^'I come not to do My own 
will, but the will of Him that sent Me."^^ And for this He 

further said, "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the 
world."2o 

The further demand that our Lord made in connection 
with a denial of self, is : "Let him take up his cross and 
follow Me." In this act lies the proof of self denied ; and 
not only denied, but crucified, which means death; and 
the cross is the ever-present evidence of the victory over 
self. Eemove this, and the doctrine of Christ and the 
cross has no meaning nor foundation upon which to rest. 
Upon this principle Christ took issue with the world, and 
the people of God must reflect the same image when living 
in the presence of the mirror, — the Gospel of the Doctrine 
of Christ. If the world accused Christ of being "beside 
Himself ^^^ — not acting in accord with Self — can His peo- 
ple expect less from the same source? "He was in the 
world, but the world knew him not."^^ May we not ask. 
Has the world, as a world, become any better acquainted 
with Him at this distance ? As God and His doctrine can 
never change, and human nature is ever the same, will the 
world not continue to think that, as the Master was "be- 
side Himself," His servants will be also beside themselves ? 
What other conclusion can the honest searcher after truth 
arrive at when he further hears the warning, "If they have 
done these things in the green tree, what will they do in 
the dry ?"^^ The issue is clear and defijied ; none but the 
willing blind will, or can fail to perceive it. 

i9Johnlv, 31. 20 John xvl, 33. 21 Mark ill, 4. 22 John i, 10. 

23Luke xxlii, 31. 



54 "Ammi — My People/' 

In order to bring the matter still closer^ the apostle 
defines the meaning of what is contained in the act of self- 
denial : "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation to 
all men hath appeared; teaching ns that, denying ungodli- 
ness and worldly Insts, we should live soberly, righteously, 
and godly in this present world/'^* Let ns array the doc- 
trine of the grace of God upon one hand, and the reflection 
of the religions world upon the other. Will any one raise 
a protest ? If so, the answer is. It is the Lord's way. Hear 
the words of the prophet Isaiah : "To whom will ye liken 
me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may 
be like r^^ 

The religious world is unhindered in war, in law, in 
politics, in gambling, in card-playing (and that in their 
places of worship, very often) ; it supports the theaters, the 
race-track, base-ball (and that on the Sabbath-day) ; it 
licenses the ball-room, the fairs, the shows ; in short, there 
is not a place of amusement where the lust of the flesh 
loves to revel, that Church members are restricted from 
attending. In war, brother will take the life of his 
brother ; in law, brother is against brother ; in politics, 
brother will defraud brother, and make both a party to 
intrigue; in gambling, one deliberately steals from the 
other; and each and all these support the theater, where 
crime and licentiousness delight to go nude, where the 
lowest type of men and women in acts of debauchery are 
principals in the entertainment. ]N"or is this an over- 
drawn picture ; in fact, it is not finished. There is no self- 
denial in matters of fleshly indulgence, pride, and ex- 
travagance in dress, and intemperance in lust. Adulterer 
and adultress, in many cases, partake of the sacrament in 
common with all. 

And now, after viewing the flock, let us turn our vision 
towards the Temple and the Altar. 

Alas! The fold is in keeping with the shepherd and 



24 Tit. ii, 11, 12. 25 isa. xlvi, 5. 



DocTRiisrE. 55 

the flock. They build as tliough God conld be reached 
through wood and stone; and, seemingly, the higher the 
structure, the nearer His throne. Were not the heathen 
fully as wise ? If there be virtue in this, did not mythology 
excel, and is it not yet in the lead? If silks and 
satins and costly apparel shall not adorn the body, "which 
is the temple of God^'-*^ — is it consistent to put such things 
upon the altar? Would not the apostle have cause to cry 
out again as he did at Athens of old, and say with the 
prophet of Israel, "Your doctrine consists of a stock of 
vanities ?"^^ There was a time when, the apostle says, 
"God winked at such ignorance ;"^^ but shall He not re- 
quire better things of us ? As Jehovah threatened Ephraim 
for his pride and intemperance, will He accept the same at 
our hands as an offering of the firstfruits of purity? Let 
us beware lest we also make a "covenant with death, and 
an agreement with hell; for neither will stand when the 
overflowing scourge shall pass through, but all such shall 
be trodden down."^^ 

Behold the building that this proud, Pharisaical world 
has attempted to build upon the doctrine of the humble 
Xazarene ; and then claim virtue and piety by offering the 
heathen a place at the altar. "Is not this making lies our 
refuge, and hiding under a falsehood ?^^^^ In the name of 
reason and fidelity to the truth, can such a structure stand 
upon the doctrine of Christ? Nay, verily! Such is but 
fleshly lust and carnal indulgence, and the fire of the con- 
suming God will be its devourer. "For every man^s work 
shall be tried, and the fire shall declare of what sort it is."^^ 
No doubt there is some work being done that fire may not 
consume; but why gather so much dross in order to save 
so small an amount of ore ? 

The doctrine of Jesus is, "Believe all things ;"^^ but 
the Higher Criticism of the modern religious world has 



26lCor.m, 16, 17. 27jer. vlii, 10. 28 Acts xvli, 30. 29 jga. xxvlii, 18. 
80 Isa. xxviii, 15. 3i i cor. lii, 13. 32 1 oor. xiii, 7. 



56 "Ammi — My People/' 

cut that in two more than once. The doctrine of Christ Is, 
"Teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have said 
imto yon."^^ The pulpit and forum are strangers to doc- 
trine; nor will the people endure it^ for says the apostle, 
"The time will come when they will not endure sound doc- 
trine/^^* The doctrine of repentance and of baptism, as 
taught by Christ, have been doctored by the cunning 
craftiness of men until neither is able to stand. The doc- 
trine of conversion has long since passed beyond notice, 
and is far too frail to cast even a shadow. And thus it 
goes throughout the entire catalogue of principles upon 
which Christ founded His doctrine of salvation until we 
arrive at the conclusion, by careful observation, when the 
question forces itself upon us. Did Jesus die in vain? 
"And will man again rob God?^^^-^ 

The cry may go forth. Where is the Church ? How shall 
I know when I am following the teaching of the Spirit? 
Finally, what shall I do to be saved? The answer comes 
in clear tones, "Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doc- 
trine; continue in them: for in so doing thou shalt both 
save thyself and them that hear thee.''^^ If the people of 
God will but take sacred care of the doctrine, the Church 
will take care of herself. Let them so live that "the name 
of God and His doctrine be not blasphemed.^'^^ Let the 
elders who rule endeavor to preserve the doctrine. 

"If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to whole- 
some words, even to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is 
proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and 
strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil 
surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, 
and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godli- 
ness : from such withdraw th3^self ."^^ This- is the estimate 



33 Matt, xxviii, 20. 34 2 Tim. iv, 3. 35 Mai. ill, 8. 36 1 Tim. iv, 16. 
\ 37 1 Tim. vi, l.J 38 1 Tim. Yi, 3-5. 



Doctrine. 57 

of the true servant of God concerning the necessity of giv- 
ing heed unto the doctrine of Christ. 

There were some in the Church at Ephesus, in the time 
of the Eevelator, who said they were apostles, bnt the Spirit 
found them to be liars.^^ There were a few things the 
Spirit held against the Church at Pergamos, and one of 
the things was, "Thon hast them there that hold the doc- 
trine of Balaam/' — the advocate of fornication. *° The 
Church at Thyatira had corrupted the doctrine of Christ 
by suffering a woman to teach and seduce the servants of 
Christ.*^ How many are there in our time suffering the 
same thing, which the Spirit of Jesus emphatically con- 
demns ! Paul affirms that he received his revelation from 
Jesus Christ, and in that revelation he says, "I suffer not 
a woman to teach, or usurp authority.^'*^ Again he affirms, 
"Let your women keep silent in the churches."*^ If, after 
this plain admonition to the congregations in the time of 
Paul, the congregation at Thyatira, more than forty years 
afterward, ventured upon the experiment of suffering a 
woman to teach, and received a condemnation from the 
Spirit of Jesus, what must be the rebuke that awaits many 
of the congregations of to-day? The congregation at 
Laodicea had become so indifferent to doctrine that the 
Spirit says of them, "Since you are neither cold or hot, I 
will spue thee out of my mouth."** 

May it not be said, and that in all sobriety and Chris- 
tian feeling for the truth, if the Spirit openly condemned 
such heedless regard for the doctrine of Christ at the close 
of the first century of the dispensation of grace, will the 
same Spirit look with forbearance upon the religious 
world in their present practice? Has it come to the time 
that the nations will say, "Let us continue in sin that 
gi-ace may abound ? God forbid !''*^ 



39 Rev. ii, 2. 4o Rev. ii, 14. « Rev. U, 20. « i Tim. il, 12. 

«i Cor. xlv, 34. « Rev. iii, 16. ^ Rom. vl, 1. 



58 "Ammi— My People/' 

While facing these conditions on either side of ns, and 
feeling their dangerous influences pressing, as it were, 
upon our own thresholds, shall we remain passive and 
silent? If so, then silence is no longer golden, but makes 
all a party to the transgression, and the cause of God re- 
mains forsaken by shepherd and flock. The people of 
God can not do this, and maintain innocence ; the demand 
of Jehovah is, "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like 
a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and 
the house of Jacob their sins."*^ 



46Isa. Iviii, 1. 



THE CHURCH. 

''Upon this roc'k will I huild My Church, and the gates 
of hell shall not prevail against it." — Christ. 

No SUBJECT with which the Scriptures deal has been 
more variously understood than the term "Church." For 
this diversity man alone is responsible. There is no prin- 
ciple or substance connected with the inspired volume that 
is more clearly defined, and that stands for as much when 
properly understood. Theologians have gone at length in 
their efforts to tell us what the Church is, and where it is. 
Sectarianism, for over sixteen hundred years, has been 
waging a war in which sword and pen have done their best 
to prove to the world what the Church is, and what it 
staiids for. Atheists, skeptics, and infidels have, in turn, 
tried their hands at the task of showing to the world what 
they think of the Church. And to-day the term is more 
abused and incorrectly applied than in any period of the 
world^s history. Nor shall we ever arrive at the true solu- 
tion of the word until we are willing to accept the Scrip- 
tural definition of the term, "My Church." So long as 
men are biased and riveted to certain preconceived opin- 
ions, so long will the religious world grope in darkness and 
mockers increase. 

From the modern use of the term, one who is a stranger 
to the Scriptures might be inclined to think the divided 
condition of the religious world is due to the existence of 
the thing itself. Such, however, is far from being the 
case. The truth is, man has attempted to divide that which 
God designed should never be separated, and, seeking to 
build in opposition to God, has become confounded to the 

59 



60 "Ammi— My People/' 

extent that the scene of Babel is a most fitting symbol of 
his condition. 

The word "Chnrch/' no doubt, is derived from one or 
both of the Greek words, Kuriakon, and Ecclesia, which 
mean, in the Scriptural use, congregation or assembly. 
And, further, it is but fair to say, the congregation or as- 
sembly was composed of God's people. This is indeed the 
full meaning in a sacred sense. We read of the "Taber- 
nacle of the Congregation,^' which, properly rendered, 
would read, "The Tent of the Meeting;" which would 
further imply the place where God meets with His people. 
The congregation, being composed of those whom God had 
accepted, would then answer for the use of the word Church 
when our Lord spoke to His disciples. As the congregation 
in the time of Moses was composed of those whom God 
had chosen, so the Church in the time of Christ (who was 
the antitype of Moses) stood for the same, and stands for 
the same to-day, and will continue to stand until He who 
built it shall come to redeem it from this world of strife 
and contention. 

We need no better authority for contending for the 
Church than the words of our Lord Himself. If there 
was to be a Church, or instrument, upon the earth that 
was to stand for God and righteousness, none was so well 
fitted to establish it as God Himself by using Jesus as the 
instrument to that end. That such an instrument was 
necessary in order to fit man for the association of heaven 
is evidenced by the act of God in ordaining the Church. 
Men may deny the right of men to claim eminence here; 
they can not, however, deny the right of God and His Son. 
We may question the fitness of the character of men upon 
which to build for better things ; but we can not, we dare 
not, question the propriety of building upon that which 
Christ has been built and is yet building. 

If principle and character are to be the standard of 
merit, certain it is the world never offered a more fitting 



The Church. 61 

example than is found in the Nazarene. Wisely has the 
Infinite Father of All moved when deciding to elevate our 
standard. While the Church stands for purity, and asks 
men to assist in defending her claim by connecting them- 
selves therewith, the fact remains, that character was built 
first, and then the Church. The Church does not claim that 
she can make something out of nothing. The claim is, if 
there is material, and that material is good, the Church is 
ready to undertake the obligation of making that material 
better. It was character — material that was good — upon 
which Heaven built the Jewish Church. It was that ma- 
terial which was ready to take God at His word, and brave 
the test when it should come. Nowhere does sacred his- 
tory show that Cod ever undertook to make a vessel of 
honor out of bad clay. Man may undertake the task, and 
the people of God — ^the Church — may even go thus far; 
but history has proven, and will always prove, the under- 
taking to be a hopeless failure. The material of which 
the ancient Temple, the glory of Israel, was built, was of 
the best, and nothing but the best would answer the pur- 
pose ; but did that material ever look so beautiful as when 
it formed a part of the house of the Lord ? 

The material may be a long way from the place where 
it is intended to be used; it may present a most uninvit- 
ing appearance at the outset; but if the quality is good, 
the hammer and plane will develop its beauty. Many of 
the richest gems lie hidden deep beneath the dross. The 
mission of the Church is to help make individuals better 
who possess the material that will stand the test. If that 
be lacking, the best that the Church can do, is to show the 
utter worthlessness of the material. Men may undertake 
to build with poor material, because of the facility it 
offers for increasing the bulk ; but our Lord's assertion is, 
"Many are called, but few are chosen.'^ 

What, then, is the Church — ^the building which Christ 
built, and of which He said He was the door? The 



62 "Ammi— My People." 

answer is at hand, — that body of regenerated souls who, 
through obedience to the Gospel of Christ, give the same 
light to the world that Christ gave. It is upon the au- 
thority of Christ that this definition of the word Church 
is given. He said to His disciples, "Ye are the light of 
the world f and as Jesus was the Light of the world, those 
who follow Him in His commands and precepts must of 
necessity be the same light; nor can there be any light to 
the world that will reflect the image of Christ when those 
principles are ignored. 

The beloved apostle makes use of words overflowing 
with meaning when treating of the principle of light. 
Hear him : "If we say we have fellowship with Him, and 
walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth : but if we 
walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship 
one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son 
cleanseth us from all sin/'^ The word Church, as it comes 
to us in our common version, or in any other, means but 
one thing, and can be no more divided than the literal 
body of Christ when on earth could be divided. 

Paul, in speaking of the Church, expresses his convic- 
tions thus : "Who now rejoice in my suffering for you, and 
fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in 
my flesh for his hodys sake, which is the Church."^ The 
sum of the apostle's words is. If there be any sufferings that 
would come upon the Church after that which Christ had 
endured for it. He was willing to bear the same in his own 
body that the Church might live on. 

The word Church occurs but twice in the evangelists' 
writings. Both instances occur in Matthew's record. 
Wherever there is reference to the Church in the remain- 
ing parts of the Gospel, the word kingdom, or kingdom of 
heaven, is used. The word occurs ninety-five times from 
the Acts of the Apostles to the close of the Book of Eeve- 
lation, and is susceptible of two different meanings. In 



UJohni, 6, 7. 2O0I. i, 



The Church. 63 

twenty-five instances it means the body of consecrated be- 
lievers wherever found; and, aside from this, the mean- 
ing is a congregation of the same body, though not includ- 
ing the entire Church. In the latter sense the word 
Church has been appropriated by all religious assemblies, 
whether they be a part of the true Church or not. In this 
absurd use of the word is found a dangerous abuse. 

The words Christian and Church — which are both 
sacred — are, by the corrupt use made of them, fast being 
robbed of their true meaning by the modern world. In 
their true significance the words are inseparable, and can 
not stand for anything but that which the Gospel sustains 
in a literal sense. Man may corrupt religion, but he can 
not corrupt the Christianity of it. The congregation may 
become impure, but the true Church never. What the 
Temple in the city of Jerusalem was to the house of Israel, 
the Church which Christ built is to the members of 
Christ's body. His people. 

Possibly Dr. Smith, in his Bible Dictionary, gives as 
good a definition of the Church as has yet been found. His 
words are: (1) Unity of Headship, ''One Lord;' (2) 
Unity of belief, ^One faith;' (3) Unity of Sacraments, 
^One baptism;' (4) Unity of hope of eternal life, "^One 
hope of your calling;' (5) Unity of love, *Unity of the 
Spirit in the bond of peace;' (6) Unity of organization, 
''One Body.' " Whatever conception we may have of the 
meaning of the word Church, we can not escape the force 
of the definition here laid down. This was the under- 
standing the apostle had of the term Church, and that 
was given by inspiration, which stands for Heaven's use 
of the word. 

Having now discerned the trne building, may we not 
ask, Upon what does it rest? Here again the opinions of 
men have obtained. Some claim the Church was built 
upon Peter, and, by so thinking, have narrowed the sense 
by claiming apostolic succession through the sanctity of the 



64 "Ammi— My People/' 

Pope, who presumes to be the head of the body, and thus 
supplants Christ. A more corrupt, presumptuous claim 
could not be invented in order to usurp authority. The 
truth is, the Church is built upon the faith that Peter de- 
clared he had in his Lord and Teacher, in answer to the 
question, "Whom say ye that I am T' Paul's teaching 
was: "[^Tow therefore ye are no more strangers and for- 
eigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the 
household of God; and are built upon the foundation of 
the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the 
chief corner-stone; in whom all the building fitly framed 
together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in 
whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of 
God through the Spirit."^ Nothing should seem more 
clear to the thinking mind than that the Church has for 
its foundation the Gospel, and the proper faith in that 
Gospel, which faith was delivered unto the saints. This 
gives the entire building, foundation and all, into the 
hands of God, who is the Architect, working through Jesus 
Christ, the Contractor; and all that individual man can 
do, or is required to do, is to strive with might and main 
to get in possession of the faith when desiring to become a 
part of that building. This is the starting point ; for with- 
out faith it is impossible to please God ; and upon the faith- 
fulness to that faith depends the reward at the end of the 
race. 

The comfort which the man of God had in the closing 
of lifers journey was not alone that he had gained posses- 
sion of the faith, but that he had kept it till the battle was 
over and the victory won. To Timothy was given the fol- 
lowing admonition : "But if I tarry long, that thou may- 
est know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house 
of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar 
and ground of the truth."* If a greater effort were made 
toward keeping the faith, and less in trying to enlarge the 



3 E ph. 11, 19-22. 41 Tim. iii, 15. 



The Church. 65 

building, there would be no need of so great anxiety about 
locating the Church. If men will take willing and loving 
care of the faith, the Church will take care of herself, and 
all shall know where to find her. The enemies of the 
Church may destroy the body of her members, but the 
gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church. 

Nor is this faith an inert thing, that men may have in 
their possession, that can give no evidence of its existence. 
The qualification that the Spirit gave to John, while upon 
the isle of Patmos, defines it clearly. The words are: 
"Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that 
keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus."^ 
The qualification that must follow every member of the 
Church, and the only one that can be given to the satisfac- 
tion of Heaven is, that those who possess the faith of Jesus 
will keep His commandments, and in so doing prove their 
love to Him who gave them: and by this shall "all men 
know that ye are My disciples." 

The next question that confronts us is. When was the 
Church established? Here again there is a division of 
opinion, proving that some are in error. One side in the 
controversy / contends that the Church was fully estab- 
lished by John the Baptist and Christ; while the other 
side holds that the Church was not complete until the Day 
of Pentecost, when the outpouring of the Spirit was mani- 
fested. The truth is, neither position is entirely correct. 
But by combining these diifering conclusions we are able to 
arrive at the proper solution of the subject. That Christ 
did set up His Church or kingdom while dwelling among 
men is a well-established fact that wisdom will not under- 
take to dispute ; but the Church at that period was in what 
can be consistently called the embryonic condition. The 
foundation was then laid and the building placed thereon, 
with all the features defined, as Avell as the order of the 
house; in fact, the entire structure was eternally laid, and 



BRev. xiv, 12. 
5 



66 "Ammi— My People/' 

no change was anticipated, because of the fact that the 
Builder was perfect as well as the Architect. 

What the Church was in its embryonic condition, such 
it has always been, and always will be. But that there 
awaited fuller development of power and glory is equalh'" 
true. The material of which the Church was composed at 
that time was in the crude state, not developed. Uncon- 
verted as yet, the people had no higher conception of 
Christ's mission than the founding of an earthly kingdom. 
This was their hope and consolation in the Messiah which 
was to come. The thought had such hold upon them from 
the reading of the prophets and their interpretation of the 
law, that they were unable to cast it off. N'or did all the 
Savior's teaching avail to convince them of their error. 
In fact, they were more interested in politics, to use a com- 
mon expression, than they were in the Church, from 
Christ's standpoint. It was the natural, rather than the 
spiritual, with which they were concerned; and not until 
the pouring out of the Spirit were they able to understand 
the full meaning of their Lord's words. When Jesus was 
taken from them and crucified, they gave evidence of their 
inability to comprehend His teaching. It is but fair to 
say that though the Church was then conceived and living, 
being generated by God in Christ, the birth did not occur 
until the outpouring of the Spirit upon the Day of Pen- 
tecost. 

Had the Church been born previous to the coming of 
the Comforter there would have been nothing to sustain it, 
as evidence the acts of the disciples when their Lord was 
taken from them. As the foundation of the Jewish 
Church was laid in the days of Abraham when circumci- 
sion was instituted, and had not its birth until it reached 
Mount Sinai, so in like manner the Christian Church, 
while being conceived and living in the daj^s of John the 
Baptist and Christ, had not its birth until the outpour- 
ing of the Holy Spirit upon the Day of Pentecost. And 



The Church. » 67 

in this also the temporal was but the pattern of the 
spiritual. 

The question may now be asked, By what means is 
the material gathered of which this building consists, and 
how do individuals become members of that body which 
stands for Christ? In answering this question, certain 
positions behind which men have intrenched themselves 
must be examined before we can proceed understandingl3^ 
It is olaimed by certain teachers, who are self-appointed, 
that the entire work lies within the personal power of 
every individual to accomplish for himself. These men 
never tire of advocating the right of personal interpreta- 
tion of the Scriptures, while forgetting, or else not discern- 
ing, that such a course is the most certain way to destroy 
the power of the Church. Grant for once that such a 
thing is admissible, there then remains no room for God 
to work, and the pdwer of Christ's example is of no merit. 

Christ says, ^^Xo man can come to Me, except the 
Father, who has sent Me, draw him."^ If personal ability 
is sufficient to enable man to come to a proper understand- 
ing of the Scriptures, why did Jesus "open their under- 
standing that they might understand the Scriptures ?"^ If 
Apollos, who was so eloquent and gifted, could properly un- 
derstand the word of the Lord, and arrive at a correct 
conception of the doctrine of the Church, why did Aquila 
and his noble wife have need to further instruct him in 
the doctrine of baptism?^ !N"othing can be more absurd 
and further from the truth than the claim that every in- 
dividual has the personal right to interpret the Scriptures 
for himself, and then be received into the Church upon 
that conviction. There can be no unity of the body unless 
there be a unity of the spirit. N'or can there be a unity 
of teaching unless the Spirit controls that teaching. 

If, then, the Spirit of God is the teacher, will not all 



6 John vl, 44. 1 Luke xxiv, 45. 8 Acts xvlil, 26. 



68 "Ammi— My People/' 

be taught of God, and all be taught the same thing in the 
same way, since God is "no respecter of persons T^ 

W.e read : "And they shall be all taught of God/*' When 
such latitude as personal right to interpret the Scriptures 
without any restriction is advocated by men who claim 
the authority to teach, need we wonder at the growth of 
sectarianism? Yet these same Doctors of Divinity are in 
no way modest in disclaiming their innocence of the guilt 
of advocating sects. "Thou that preachest a man shall not 
steal, dost thou steal?" No principle is so utterly at 
variance with the doctrine, of Christ. Let such leaders 
have control, and the prayer of our Lord will never be 
answered wherein He prayed that His disciples might "be 
one as He and the Father are one.'' Yet these blind 
guides cry aloud for more money in order to spread their 
nefarious doctrine. The Scriptures teach, if they teach 
anything, that the gifts which Christ §ave to His people 
when He ascended up on high were to bring them "into the 
unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, 
unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the 
fullness of Christ."^ Nothing but the Word of God and 
the teaching of the Spirit will preserve the orthodoxy of the 
Church. Upon this point the Jewish Church broke faith 
with God and His Word ; and for that reason they failed to 
discern the tim.e appointed for their visitation. And 
further, if Heaven has no part in bringing men to the 
light, there can be no true conversion, and the evidence is 
not wanting among the religious bodies of our day. 

The next thought is, By what act or means do individ- 
uals become a part of this building or Church? The 
answer is, By that same application of law that brings 
about an increase in any field where life exists. All mate- 
rial must undergo a conversion or change before it can be 
used in constructing a building. Or, in other words, noth- 
ing that has life comes into the kingdom of the world or 



9Eph. iv, 13. 



The Church. 69 

the Church -Qiiless it is born into it. The teaching that 
baptism and the communion are not Church ordinances is 
at variance with the Scriptures at every turn. The Church 
is called the family of God, or the kingdom of God ; and by 
what means is that family increased if not by the principle 
of birth ? And what principle is more a vital part of that 
family, or any pure family, than a legitimate birth ? Again,, 
by what means did the house of Jacob become members 
of the Jewish Church, if not by the right of circumcision? 
And further, what intelligent man will say that the right 
of circumcision was not an ordinance in that Church, and 
the basis upon whicli that Church rested? 

If that upon which the Church rests for her increase 
is not a part of the Church, then, by the same way of 
reasoning, the principle of generation is not a part of man. 
The teaching of the Scriptures is, "As many as are baptized 
into Christ," or into the body of Christ (for that is the 
only construction that is admissible), have put on Christ. 
Will any sane — spiritually sane — man say that the power 
of the instrument is not a part of the instrument? To 
teach that baptism and. the communion are not Church or- 
dinances is but to declare that the power by which a mother 
gives birth to and supports her infant babe is not a part 
of that mother. If this is the best our college-bred 
theologians can do by way of interpreting the Scriptures, 
they had better, like l^ebuchadnezzar of old, go to the fields 
and eat grass until they learn what wisdom is. But we are 
not yet done with this unpardonable blunder. 

It is taught by these same men that the individual who 
becomes convicted of sin, and comes to where Christ is, 
has a right to partake of the communion even before he is 
baptized into the Church. The first error was bad enough, 
but this is the climax. If such teaching be true, this is, 
in deed and in truth, a world of chance where law is a 
stranger. Has any individual the right of citizenship in a 
foreign kingdom until he becomes willing to take out nat- 



70 "Ammi— My People/' 

iiralization papers? Or, in other words, to bring the 
thought closer to the point at issue, has an unborn babe 
any physical rights in the family ? Common sense, to say 
nothing of reason, revolts at such stupidity. 

Grant that such travesty of law should obtain, the^re- 
sult would inevitably be confusion confounded. The only 
position that is tenable — and such is always reasonable — 
is, that the Church has Jor its foundation and pillar the 
entire doctrine of Christ and His apostles as taught in the 
New Testament Scriptures, from the doctrine of belief and 
faith to the doctrine of anointing with oil in the name of 
the Lord. 'Not until the Alpha and t)mega of the Gospel 
of Christ is complied with, in the literal sense of the word 
in which it comes to us, can any organization of believers 
be consistently called the Church which Jesus Christ called 
^■My Church." If this position is not safe and secure, 
there remains nothing upon which to build while God is 
the Architect. 

What further warning does- the world need than the 
words of the Founder of the building, the Church? His 
words are : ^^Thcrcforo whosoever beareth these sayings of 
mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man 
which built his house upon a rock. And every one that 
heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall 
be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon 
the sand : and the rains descended, and the floods came, and 
the winds blew, and beat upon that house ; and it fell : and 
great was the fall of it."^*^ Well says the Scripture, "If 
the blind lead the blind, they both fall into the ditch." 

By what rule of discipline is this building or Church 
governed and controlled ? And are the Scriptures sufficient 
of themselves to accomplish the desired result? The 
answer is. He who built the house hath ordained the law 
of that house, and that law is complete in itself. It is evi- 
dent that Christ considered the building "My Church," or 

lOMatt.vii, 24-27. 



The Church. 71 

the kingdom, the house of God, as we may call it (for all 
these terms are applied to it by Divine authority), suffi- 
ciently developed by Him when dwelling among men ; and 
no one can justly say there was no Church established be- 
fore the Day of Pentecost. Nor can the other extreme be 
sustained, that the Church was in her power and beauty 
before that time. 

When Peter had declared his faith in his Lord, and 
Christ asserted the existence of His Church, He then told 
Peter, "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom."^^ 
This expression at once evidences the existence of the 
Church at the time when Christ spoke to Peter and to the 
rest of the disciples. Neither God nor man designs a key 
until there is something to be opened. The kingdom was 
first established, and then the key was furnished that would 
unlock that kingdom. In due time Peter responds to this 
command. Upon the Day of Pentecost, Peter, by the help 
of the Holy Spirit, opened the Christian Church to the 
whole house of Israel; and no living man or living angel 
could have done it but Peter. Unto him was this charge 
committed, and he alone could fulfill it. Again, at the 
house of Cornelius, the Gentile, was the second key used, 
to open the Christian Church unto the house of the Gen- 
tiles. In both instances God intervened by using man as 
an instrument in order to accomplish the end. And not 
until this barrier was removed between the Jew and the 
Gentile was Peter or the rest of the disciples truly con- 
verted. And this is in accord with what Jesus told Peter 
when he informed him that "Satan had desired to have 
him that he might sift him as wheat;'' further assuring 
Peter that "He had prayed for him that his faith fail not : 
and when thou art converted, strengthen thy 'brethren/'' 
Let this suffice as touching the building, and when it was 
ordained, and what is its mission. 

The rule by which the Church, the House of God^, was 



"Matt.xvi, 19. 



n "Ammi— My People/' 

to be governed through all time, is contained in the New 
Testament Scriptures. Man-made creeds, confessions of 
faith, catechisms, and all other isms that men may invent, 
are but drift in the stream, which obstruct their own pas- 
sage. Can fallible man, by any effort of his own, presume 
to change the counsel of God? Was anything lacking in 
the law which God gave to Moses, that the people were 
not pure and upright? N^ay, verily! The want was in 
their failing to observe the law. Shall He who is perfect 
give man an institution to the end that he may become 
perfect, and then ordain an imperfect law by which that 
institution should be governed? Such attempts are but 
the product of the flesh, and will reap death in the harvest. 
For over sixteen hundred years men have been trying to 
perpetuate a Church by ignoring the order which Christ 
gave, and have failed in accomplishing their design. 

Purity of individuality is the all and ever-abiding pre- 
requisite to the life and growth of the Church. No rule or 
method that men may invent will so perfectly establish and 
sustain that degree of simplicity and purity of character 
which shall constitute the members of the Church, the 
Body of Christ, as that which Jesus gave in the eighteenth 
chapter of Matthew's record. If that discipline be ob- 
served from a pureness of motive, it is impossible for im- 
purity to exist in the Church. It not only makes every 
man his brother's keeper, but places every man in such a 
position that his brother can keep him, and centers that 
power by which the Church is governed within her own 
body, of which all the members are partakers. By setting 
aside this pure, heaven-born principle, the religious bodies 
of the world have arrived at their present corrupt condi- 
tion of membership. And who are to blame but their 
teachers, or shepherds, who seem to be more interested in 
the fleece than in the flock? If the assertion of the late 
Dr. Sturgeon, made years ago, had been heeded, the relig- 
ious bodies of the world would offer a better instrument 



The Church. 73 

for the advancement of mankind. His words were, ^^I will 
work a hundredfold harder for the purity of the Church 
than for the increase of the Chnrch.^' Let this be the 
standard of merit, rather than numbers, and the efforts of 
the religious world will be seen and felt. N^othing can be 
more detrimental to' the true mission of the Church than 
the mad rush for material regardless of quality. If bulk is 
the standard of merit, corruption is at a premium and the 
end thereof is death. 

The simple law by which the true Church is governed, 
develops all the good in man, while it destro3^s all that is 
selfish and impure. It is so framed that all are brought to 
a common level, while it lifts all to the highest ideal of life. 
It so divides the power of love among the members of the 
body, that each looks not only upon his own things, but 
also upon the things of others, and thus produces a unity 
or oneness in the body. As says the apostle, "Ye are 
complete in Him." And thus the Church, the representa- 
tive body of Christ stands, and will stand, until He comes 
to give His people "a house not made with hands, eternal 
in the heavens." 

Of what material is this building composed, and who 
is eligible to admittance into it? To the first question, 
the answer is, that which is susceptible of development; 
which further implies, the power to discern and utilize the 
means offered for development. The abnormal mind can 
not be used in this building for lack of proper knowledge 
to perform the necessary demands. And this application 
is more extended than is often realized at first sight. The 
normal condition of the human mind is not impure and 
sinful, but innocent, and susceptible of development along 
lines conducive to growth in its field. There are two con- 
ditions in which the mind may be found when it can be 
said to be abnormal. First, the infant state, before suffi- 
cient power of reason is present to comprehend the basis 



U "Ammi— My People/' 

■Qpon which character is built. In tliis condition the mind 
is pure and innocent^ and the Church has nothing to offer 
in addition. In fact, the work of bringing men to that 
condition is the sum-total of the Church's mission. Not 
until that condition is passed has the Church anything to 
offer by way of making men and mankind better. 

The second condition is, when the mind has become so 
deadened to truth and purity by the effects of sin and un- 
godliness, that there is no longei' power remaining to com- 
prehend the worth of better things. So long as such a 
condition remains, there is nothing in the material bene- 
ficial to the Church. Not until the mind awakens to the 
knowledge of its condition, and feels the reality of it, and 
gives evidence of the same, can the Church consistently 
undertake to mold that material into the house of God. 
^'For he that cometh to God must believe that He is God, 
and that He is a rewarder of them who diligently seek 
Him.''" 

Lastly, is the Church an indispensable instrument to 
the salvation of man and mankind? The answer is. All 
those who are proper subjects for Church membership 
have no promise of eternal life here or hereafter unless 
that promise is obtained through the means which the 
Church offers for salvation. The mission of the Church is 
no less in providing for men the highest and noblest things 
in this life than in offering the reward of an eternal in- 
heritance. ^Ye too often build more upon the hope of that 
which is to come than in striving for the present inherit- 
ance of righteousness. "Here and now" is our field and 
our labor. Should we prove unfaithful stewards to our 
present trust, very little room is there to build for that 
which is to come. 

We can, if we will, enjoy a foretaste of eternal life 
even here; and that opportunity lies within the Church; 



isHeb.xi, 6. 



The Church. 75 

and he who will not labor in that field can not expect to 
reap the harvest of God's love when the end has come. The 
teaching of the Scriptures is: "There is no other name 
given under heaven and among men, whereby men can be 
saved, than in the name of Jesus ;"^^ and the Church has 
stood for that Name ever since the Holy Spirit took up His 
abode there; and so long as the people of God stand for 
that which Jesus stood, will the Spirit bear witness to her 
work and light. 

Morality may be the test of religion ; but while morality 
provides the material for the building, it does not and can 
not furnish the place to use it. It is asserted here that no 
man can be morally honest, in the full sense of the word, 
and remain out of a covenant relationship with his God. 
Morality is just pure enough, and good enough, and kind 
enough to point to that which is better; and every man 
who possesses morality up to that standard is forced to 
turn from her index finger when she points toward her 
origin. Morality at her best says, "Do unto all men as 
you would that all men should do unto 3^ou." We take 
morality at her terms, and gladly accept the challenge. 
Then it follows, if a man desires all men to love him, he 
must first show love toward all men ; this is morality, and 
it is also Christian. If, then, a man should love all men 
in order that all men may love him, by what means can 
morality escape loving God, who created all men and gave 
them the principle upon which morality is built? This is 
the perfection of morality, and this is what she must do in 
order to be true to her own terms. 

The conclusion is, all men, to be strictly moral, must 
love God; and the supreme test is, if an individual would 
prove himself true to his claim, he must show that love; 
and the only field the present life offers for that test is the 
Church. For since, if any one would show love, to God, he 



isActsiv, 12. 



76 "Ammi— My People/' 

must keep His commandments, the Church alone provides 
the field for that test. Here is morality perfected through 
the power of the Church; and this is the Church's claim, 
and she is always waiting for an opportunity to prove it. 
Then it can be truly said, "All things are yours, and ye are 
Christ's, and Christ is God's."^* 



1*1 Cor. m, 23. 



FAITH. 

^'Without faith, it is impossible to please God." — Paul. 

How LIKE a Father our God deals with us! Along 
the path He asks us to travel He kindly leads the way. 
Before He asked us to believe Him He showed that He was 
willing to believe us. Xot until He disclosed His love to 
us did He ask us to love Him. Before He required us to 
have faith in Him, He showed by His works that He did 
nothing without faith. "By faith the worlds were 
made."^ By and through faith, holy men of old were ap- 
proved of God. It was to a weak and unbelieving world 
our Lord said, "0 ye of little faith." It was they who, 
while partly believing and yet doubting, cried out, "Lord, 
increase our faith !" 

Faith is an abiding prerequisite in building for heaven. 
"Now abideth faith, hope, and charity." The emphasis 
which the Scriptures put upon faith as an essential factor 
in working out our salvation is expressed in the words, 
"Whatsoever is not of faith is sin."- The full meaning of 
this expression is, sincerity, earnestness, a consciousness of 
the sacredness of our vows. Man has ever been prone to 
hold too loosely his part of the covenant. Whilst he knows 
full well that God is faithful to perform all He has prom- 
ised, yet upon this assurance man too often underrates his 
obligations to God ; which leads him to indulge in the false 
conclusion that the unlimited mercy of God will in some 
way or other atone for man's unfaithfulness. As danger- 
ous as this ' position is, many, if not the greater part, of 
the professing world have fallen into it. 

1 Heb. xl, 3. 2 Rom. xiv, 23. 

77 



78 "Ammi— My People/' 

Again could the prophet cry out^ "Will a man rob 
God?'' Well did the house of Israel know what kind of 
sacrifice Heaven required at their hand ; yet did they offer 
to God that which to them was worth very little, showing 
in this a want of faith in God's Word. Is it any wonder 
Jehovah lost faith in them ? Can He have faith in those of 
to-day who have so little faith in wdiat they offer as service 
to Him? "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the 
word of God." Possibly we shall find no better place to 
emphasize the fact that the Scriptures admit of but one 
kind of faith, — "The faith that was delivered unto the 
saints."^ He whom God sent into the world gave to the 
world this faith, built upon love. Whatever else tends to 
fasten itself upon us needs the most careful watching. 
T'he voice of the Spirit throughout revelation centers upon 
this one basis : "One Lord, one faith, and one baptism." 

The Scriptures, in defining the word Faith, leave no 
doubt as to its meaning, — "The substance of things hoped 
for, the evidence of things not seen." The field of faith 
lies in the future. Faith rests entirely upon promise and 
prophecy. Since God alone can lift futurity's veil, and 
show us the unseen, how obviously plain is the statement, 
"Faith cometh by hearing!" How well our' Lord spoke 
when He said, "Take heed how you hear," is now clear. 
"Hear, Israel; hear, ye Gentiles; hear, all ye nations 
of the earth ! Hear, and your soul shall live." As our 
hearing, so shall our faith be. As our faith, so shall our 
strength be. For we "walk by faith, and not by sight." 
He that hath ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit 
saith unto the congregations. (N. T.) 

The world has never lost the desire to hear. Even the 
wise men of Athens, with all their wisdom, still desired to 
hear. They were sensible of the fact that there was yet 
something to hear. So now, this day, we are all anxious 
to hear: we start at every sound, especially if some new 



3 Jude 3. 



Faith. 79 

thing or thought is presented. Alas ! how soon our inter- 
est dies when the story of the a'oss is told. At the story 
of self-sacrifice, how soon our eyes grow dim, and our ears 
dull of hearing ! 

Where, then, is there room for faith? There is none. 
Faith, like seeds, can only grow in fertile soil. No profit 
can come from hearing unless there is faith in what is 
heard. "For the word preached did not profit them, not 
being mixed with faith in them that heard it."* Under 
this condition need we wonder why faith becomes less, 
when the world refuses to hear? To hear sound doctrine, 
"turning their ears from the truth, and being turned unto 
fables." 

In regarding this state of things we can easily see why 
our Lord said, "When I come, shall I find faith on the 
earth?" Whilst it is clear that faith looks forward, it 
also looks upon the past, and upon the present also. The 
past dealings of God with His people, the fulfilling of all 
that was spoken, the reward of the faithful, and the con- 
demnation of the unfaithful, teach us, beyond any doubt, 
that to be found faithful when He comes to reckon with 
men, we must be found doing the things of the present. 
This is the only true ground upon which faith can rest. 

Prophecy means inspiration; the birth of prophecy re- 
mains with God. "The seed of the woman shall bruise the 
serpent's head," was the birth of prophecy. Faith prompted 
this prophecy. As God could swear by none greater. He 
therefore, says Paul, "sware by Himself." As there was 
none stronger in whom to confide, God had faith in Him- 
self that eventually the Child of Bethlehem would con- 
quer. All prophecy turns upon this point. Hence 
prophecy is built upon faith, and faith in turn rests upon 
prophecy, while the field for its work lies between Eden 
lost and Paradise gained, time begun and time no longer. 
Within this boundary lies the reign of faith. Our fidelity 



4 Heb. iv, 2. 



80 ''Ammi— My People/' 

to the word of truth, our demonstration of character as 
we draw light from the truth, qualities the faith we have 
in the truth. Upon this point our faith stands or falls. 

Faith is the foundation of hope. It is to the believing, 
trusting, faithful one that hope becomes fruition. How- 
ever impossible a thing may seem to us, however far from 
our way of reasoning, — if God has willed it so, faith ac- 
cepts it. True faith never wavers or doubts. The more 
dark the path, the heavier the burden, the deeper the sor- 
row, the more bitter the affliction, all tend to fallow the 
soil for faith's strongest growth. For faith is a thing of 
growth; this is its work and its worth. It is fed from a 
fountain that is ever expanding, until the goal is reached. 
"Be thou faithful until death, and I will give thee a crown 
of life.^'^ 

Saving faith is not a product of earth, but a gift from 
God. The teaching of the Scriptures is, it was delivered 
unto the saints, who, in their patience, possessed the faith 
of Jesus. 

Again it is said, "Christ is the Author of our faith." 
The sum of all that has been spoken or written by inspired 
men sustains the principle of a unity of faith. The gifts 
that men received through the triumph of Jesus was to 
that end, — "until they all come unto the unity of the faith 
and the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, 
unto the measure and stature of the fullness of Christ."*^ 
True faith and true love will and must unite, if the prayer 
of Jesus is to be answered. The life and work of Jesus 
Christ reveals to the world but one character, "In whom 
dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.''^ Hence to 
know Him can only mean a unity of knowledge of all 
that upon which faith is built; which further implies, a 
unity of faith drawn from that knowledge. 

The leading effort at present is to endeavor to draw 
just enough from the Scriptures upon which the believing 



5Rev. ii, 10. 6Eph.iv, 13. ^Col. xii, 9. 



Faith. 81 

world can unite; and the less doctrine, the more perfect 
the union. In opposition to this, the mind of God was to 
give to the world a revelation of truth perfect in every 
feature, and as such it must be accepted in whole. If the 
effort was more in the direction to accept the whole of reve- 
lation, and less to gather in the whole world, there would 
be more consistency in the work, and a brighter prospect 
of a blessed reward. The faith of Jesus must be the faith 
of His people in all places and in all times; it can not 
change. Unerring faith, unchanging faith,, undying faith, 
in all that God has commanded, — ^this is saving faith, and 
the only faith that will bring salvation. 

The Pharisees had not left off the ritualism of the law ; 
the outward form of rites and ceremonies they still main- 
tained; yet these were without meaning in the absence of 
mercy, judgment, and faith. 

Faith to the man of God is what the compass is to the 
mariner, — it is the helm by which the ship is guided; the 
star that points to the Babe in the manger. The faith that 
was delivered to the saints is the ever-present emblem by 
which the people of God are known ; a sign that never fails, 
and should never be spoken against. Faith has a saving 
power, — "Thy faith has saved thee." The promptings 
Avhich lie behind a saving faith propel its possessor onward 
and upward, increasing confidence, dispelling doubt, ex- 
plaining life's sorrows, softening affliction, a guard in 
temptation, a true companion in trials. 



LOVE. 

^7/ any man love Me, lie will heep My words." — Jesus. 

The power of God and the wisdom of God are equal. 
The mercy of God and, the justice of God are also equal. 
Yet over all and through all the Love of God reigns. Love 
is the supreme attribute of God. What love is we can feel 
better than we can tell; we best comprehend it when we 
see the manner of its manifestation. Love is inseparably 
connected with sacrifice. This is shown in God's command 
to Abraham: "Take thy son, thine only son, whom thou 
lovest.''^ This was Abraham's supreme test, a test of love. 
It was the Divine Mind that brought the test, in order to 
determine, by comparison, the strength of a father's love. 

This test of love, proclaimed by God and man, has 
echoed through all ages, to teach mankind the meaning 
of love. There can be no higher meaning attached to love. 
What holy consistency do we behold in the Divine Father 
in offering His own Son a sacrifice for sin! This is the 
example, with the meaning attached, upon which all love 
to God and His Word must rest. Whatever our mind may 
be as touching the relation to the eternal law of God, we 
need seek no further for a solution. The entire problem 
of man's reconciliation to God must be worked out upon 
the example which the infinite Creator has shown — sac- 
rifice. 

The Apostle John beautifully portrays the force of the 
example in the following words : "Behold what manner of 
love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be 
called the sons of God."^ Making man the son of God em- 



1 Gen. xxu, 2. 2 1 John iii, 1. 



Love. 83 

braces the entire purpose of redemption. This redemption 
is built upon sacrifice, and love prompted it. Here is the 
fullness of love the Infinite has for the finite. The fact 
that love is the strongest power that man possesses, readily 
explains the wisdom of the means adopted in order to re- 
deem him. Love is the first emotion of the infant life. 
Nor should we wonder at this, since man is the product 
and image of Him whose name is Love. There is no prin- 
ciple better adapted to man's nature, by which he may be 
reconciled to his Maker, than the principle of love. 

In case of separation, the things separated can be united 
only by unifying their powers, or by establishing a one- 
ness of design. The prayer of our Lord beautifully con- 
firms this point: "That they all may be one; as Thou, 
Father art in Me, and I in Thee, that they may be one in 
us; that the world may believe that Thou hast sent me.''^ 
Again, "I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be per- 
fect in one." As the weak can only be helped by the 
stronger, so God who is abundantly able, has tendered his 
love to fallen man, that man may, by laying hold of the 
means, be again united to his Maker; and that by and 
through the power of love. "For while we were sinners, 
God commended His love to us, in giving His Son to die 
that we might live : the just for the unjust, that He might 
bring us to God."* In short, love is the supreme tie that 
binds God to man, and man to God. Without this, there 
could be no true sacrifice, nor true service. Worship that 
is not prompted by pure love to Him who is worshiped is 
empty and worthless, — "As sounding brass and a tinkling 
cymbal."^ 

We notice, not only the manifestation of God's love, but 
also the manner in which it was manifested, — that we 
should be called "the sons of God." This is the ultimate 
mark of Divine love, — to make man a son of God, again 
uniting man, who is the glory of God, to his eternal origin. 



> John xvii, 22. ^ Rom. v, 8. n Cor. xm, 1, 



84 "Ammi — My People/' 

Through the principle of generation, sonship is established; 
symbolizing, by parental relation, the most sacred concep- 
tion of love of which the human mind has knowledge. 
Thus by God's condescending to enter through love within 
man's domain, man is enabled to comprehend the fullness 
of this attribute of God. By comprehending, he is given 
power, through love, to partake of the nature of God. And 
this he attains to by imitating God. When man yields to 
the constraining love of God, by degrees he is able to over- 
come the human or sinful nature; and by degrees he is 
enabled to put on the Divine nature. This is conversion, 
and the only way conversion is brought about. At this 
point a oneness is established between the Father and the 
Son and His mystical body, the Church; and thus, our 
Lord's Prayer is answered, by God's own way and means. 
This is but the natural result of the unifying power of 
love. Love always unites, there is no exception to this law 
in either the natural or the spiritual kingdom. It then 
follows, since all we can know of God comes through these 
two avenues of knowledge, to love God is to love His reve- 
lation; which further implies obedience to that revelation. 
"If any love Me, he will keep My words."*^ We may have 
faith, and we may have hope; but, first and last, we must 
have an abiding love. Without love, faith is dead, and 
hope has no comfort. 

Love has not only a uniting influence, but one that 
conquers as well. When love shall have its perfect work; 
when its mission is done, and the conquest is over, and 
the victory won, — then shall the conquered and the con- 
queror dwell together in love. Here is the happy solution 
of the apostle's words : "We shall come out more than con- 
querors through Him that loved us."^ This is the con- 
summate purpose, of the Infinite Mind, the fruit of the 
sacrifice of His Son, our Savior, the bountiful harvest of 
God's endless love. "Behold what manner of love !" — love 



6 John xlv, 23. 7 Rom. viil, 37, 



Love. 85 

inviting, love forgiving, love receiving, love -unchanging, 
love conquering, love redeeming, love eternal, — this the 
God of love has bestowed upon sinful man in order that 
lie might become the son of God. How unspeakably happy 
is that people who abide in that love, through the Word 
of God abiding in them ! "If ye keep My commandments, 
ye shall abide in My love ; even as I have kept My Father's 
commandments, and abide in His love."^ that all would 
hearken to that voice of love, and turn not away from its 
wooing ! 

Eeader, can you still turn from that love? Can you 
continue to love what God hates, and hate what God loves, 
the saving of your soul? Sad indeed is that heart which 
feels no love for others, nor receives love from others, even 
from a human standpoint; how much more from 
God's standpoint! Wandering in fields that are 
barren, feasting upon that which is dying, hoping in that 
which is deceiving, at last dying amidst that which is con- 
demning, — could we have no other choice, how bitter 
would be oar cry, and how well-grounded the reason for 
such bitterness ! Grateful should we feel to be able to real- 
ize that, on every hand and in all conditions, we are sur- 
rounded by love; best of all, the love of God! It is the 
goodness of God that leads us to repentance, by which we 
are given the power to comprehend the length and breadth, 
and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ, 
which passeth knowledge/''* 

Should you go on through life a stranger to love and 
to God until the evening of life overtakes you, and the 
night of death embraces you, and the day of judgment 
confronts you, what will be the sadness of that hour when 
the love of God condemns you ! He, who on Calvary cried, 
"Father, forgive them, they know not what they do," gave 
to the world the voice of love, that we might learn to love 
and to live. The comforting thought is "If any man love 



8 John XV, 10. 9 Eph. ill, 18. 



86 "Ammi— My People/' 

Me, he will keep My words : and My Father will love him, 
and We will come and make Our abode with him." Thrice 
happy, indeed, is that one with whom the Father and Son 
abide; blessed are that people over whom the Godhead 
keeps watch. Through love, the people of God are to give 
to the world the evidence of their claim : "By this shall 
all men know that ye are My disciples." 

Herein is the completeness of this love: It "believeth 
all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things ;" it never 
f aileth ; it is as eternal as the source from which it comes. 
And this is the evidence of eternal life even here. The 
apostle, in considering the perfection of this love, says: 
"For I am persuaded that neither life, nor death, nor 
angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, 
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other 
creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God 
which we have in Christ Jesus our Lord." 

There is yet another claim that love offers us : it east- 
eth out fear; and this it does by removing all cause for 
fear. "Perfect love casteth out fear." It restores peace, 
it promotes holiness, it prompts righteousness, it brings 
man into fellowship and communion with his Maker, the 
glorious object for which the sacrifice was made, the 
triumph of undying Love. 



EEPENTANCE. 

''Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand/* 

Repentance was the theme of him who was sent to 
prepare the hearts of the house of Jacob to receive the 
promised Messiah. It was the message of him who cried 
in the wilderness, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make 
strait His paths."^ The teaching of him who came to show 
mankind the way of salvation began with the words, "Re- 
pent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."^ 

Repentance implies a knowledge of sin and its soul- 
destroying powers. It is a state of mind which views, with 
clearness of perception, the sentence of death pronounced 
upon the ungodly. Repentance is this, and more. It is 
the point at which man finds himself looking both ways. 
Standing in the midst of Jordan, behind him he sees the 
wilderness of sin; before him he views, though but dimly, 
the Promised Land — Salvation. 

The causes that produce a condition, very often have 
great force in explaining that condition. The Scriptural 
teaching is, "Knowest thou not that the goodness of God 
leadeth thee to repentance ?" From this, and other Scrip- 
tures, we are led to infer that God's love and mercy. His 
forbearance and kindness, Plis remembrance alike of the 
just and the unjust, the still small voice that is knocking at 
the door of our hearts, the Spirit that striveth with man 
for his fellowship, are the effectual pleadings that lead us 
to repentance. "For no man cometh unto Me, except the 
Father who has sent Me draw him,'' said Jesus. 

But may we not inquire. Is there not another factor 



iMatt, m, 3. 2 Matt, iil, 2. 

87 



88 ''Ammi— My People/' 

that may have a work here also? While sin is transgres- 
sion, and its wages death, do not its very pangs create a 
struggle for life ? Had the destitute, starving condition of 
the prodigal son no part in bringing him to remember the 
sweetness of home ? Did not the company of swine, when 
compared with his father's house, move him to say, "1 will 
arise?" Again, does not the knowledge of darkness help 
us to appreciate light? It is only by the stress of com- 
parison that the true merit of things is seen. By the pres- 
ence of sin in the world God's goodness and mercy are 
made to assume the brightest luster. 

Sufficient has now been said for the interested mind to 
see that without sin in the world, there would be no cause 
for repentance; and without the light and love of God, 
there would be no way to repent. The conclusion is, the 
Divine mind has so tempered all things that man may 
reach the highest development by giving him the fullest 
opportunity. In so doing man is enabled to comprehend 
the need of redemption, which fits him to give his Maker 
the more perfect praise. In the words of the apostle we 
are made to say, "0 the depth of both the wisdom and 
knowledge of God!''^ Whatever repentance, or the condi- 
tion which gave rise to the word, may mean to the world 
now, we are not at a loss to know what it meant to him 
who proclaimed it in the wilderness. His answer to those 
who desired the blessings of repentance without repenting, 
was: "0 generation of vipers, who hath warned you. to 
flee the wrath to come ? Bring forth fruit meet for repent- 
ance."* Evidence of reformation is the qualification of 
true repentance. Think not that birthright counts for heir- 
ship here. The blessedness of repentance is free to all men, 
when all men bring forth fruit that makes them worthy. 
The call to repent appeals to all men alike; for all men 
must repent. It is an individual work, and every individ- 
ual must realize the sincerity and earnestness of it. True 



3 Bom. xl, 33. 4 Matt, ill, 7. 



Eepentance. 89 

repentance is a sacred work ; it brings us to the point where 
God is willing to meet us and receive us: "Draw nigh 
unto God, and He will draw nigh to you/'^ It brings us 
to the point where we can and must plead our own cause, 
and not another's ; where we will feel and know that, while 
we are looking into the deptl;s of our hearts, God is also 
beholding our inward thoughts. "For our secret sins are 
in the light of His countenance."^ It is sacred, because 
it works a godly sorrow for sin, that needeth not to be re- 
pented of. 

The depth of the meaning of repentance can only be 
measured by rightly considering the work that is to follow. 
If there be not a genuine repentance, there can not be an 
abiding covenant. The right of baptism has no sanctify- 
ing influence, unless the work of repentance has properly 
prepared the subject to receive it. And right here there is 
danger of making a fatal mistake. Eemember, always, 
that God is not mocked; and honesty of heart and sin- 
cerity of design must accompany all our labors to obtain 
salvation. Man's approach to God is one of successive de- 
velopment. Each succeeding step is prompted by some 
strength previously gained, by which an evidence of prog- 
ress is established. Here is the importance of repentance. 
While it establishes belief, it also qualifies faith; for it 
must needs be that belief and faith precede repentance. 

We are now brought to consider what constitutes a fit 
subject for repentance. The gravity of the Scriptures, and 
the responsibility resting upon those who accept them, are 
of such a nature as to prove conclusively that they were 
intended for mature minds — minds that can feel and com- 
prehend the weight and meaning of a covenant. Kor 
should this be thought unreasonable, from the fact that 
the covenant of salvation is of the highest character, and 
embraces the gravest responsibilities. Its relation and 
meaning are as far superior to earthly covenants as eternity 



6 James iv, 8. o Psalm xc. 



90 "Ammi— My People/' 

surpasses time. A covenant embracing the most sacred ob- 
ligations^ as well as demanding the strictest observance of 
them, is the covenant which confronts every one, who truly 
repents and comes to God. We can consistently ask, "Who 
is sufficient for these things ?^^ It can not be the infant 
mind ; such things are not within its reach to grasp. It 
can not be the abnormal mind, for it is not responsible. 
No covenant has any power where either party is not re- 
sponsible. The fact is, there is no legal ground upon wliich 
to establish a covenant. And for the same reason there is 
no room for repentance where like conditions are present. 
Men are more consistent in their civil pursuits than in 
their efforts to obtain religious ends. 

Eepentance can only follow a sense of guilt, and guilt, 
or sin, can only obtain upon knowledge of right and wrong. 
The Scriptures are quite plain on this subject. "He that 
knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, unto him it is sin." 
These 'words confirm the conclusions here drawn, beyond 
any chance to be mistaken. There could be no justice upon 
other ground, from the fact that, up to that point, inno- 
cence remains, which of itself bars every possible demand 
for repentance. The entire work of salvation has for its 
object the establishing of innocence ; but to those who have 
not lost their innocence the Scriptures make no appeal. 
This is the righteousness of God, and His people have ever 
subscribed to it. 

But what are the teachings of men when compared 
with revelation upon this question ? Are they not in direct 
opposition to it? Their own practice is evidence sufficient 
to establish the fact. What benefit can be derived from 
the breaking of the bread of communion whilst lacking the 
power to know the purpose for which it is broken; or in 
passing the cup of blessing when unable to gather its mean- 
ing? Some have looked upon this scene, and were made to 
blush because of its inconsistency. Will men never cease 
to corrupt the Word of the Lord ? 



Eepentance. 91 

Again can it be fitly spoken, "The zeal of thine house 
hath eaten me up." When we properly consider how often 
false zeal has led manlvind astray, and called forth the 
condemnation of Heaven upon man^s presumption, is there 
not presented a broad field for serious thought? Forget- 
ting that numbers is no evidence of righteousness, nor 
numerical strength an assurance of power, men in their 
mad rush to obtain both have sacrificed quality for quan- 
tity, and by so doing have robbed their religion of its sav- 
ing power. How sad this is ! But there is yet a sadder 
thing, and that is the lack of understanding to see the' 
error, and hence an inability to comprehend the true mean- 
ing of repentance. Nothing is of more importance than 
correctly to understand what God requires of us, and prop- 
erly to comply with these requirements. That mankind, 
from the least to the greatest, was separated from God by 
transgression, is a truth readily accepted, because of its 
reasonableness. And that the recital of the manner in 
which the transgression shall be blotted out is equally rea- 
sonable, is the occasion of this paper. 

To help those who can not help themselves is divine ; the 
fullness of this was made manifest in sending a Savior, a 
Bedeemer. The power and completeness of that Eedeemer 
lay in the virtue of His atonement. By the sacrifice upon 
the cross the world was relieved of the effect of the trans- 
gression in Eden. In the language of John the Baptist, 
"Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of 
the world !" By virtue of the atonement the entire human 
family who have died, and who may die, without individual 
transgression, have been placed in an innocent relation- 
ship with God, — which includes all children under the 
years of responsibility, and adults whose minds are ab- 
normal. To all such, repentance has nothing to ofier. 

By the death of Christ, the Testator, a law was sealed 
which wills to all share and share alike, who are willing to 
accept the terms of that will, — not an earthly inheritance. 



92 "Ammi— My People/^ 

but an eternal one, whose endurance shall be to all eternity. 
A sincere belief from the heart, a pure faith that worketh 
by love, a godly sorrow that worketh a genuine repent- 
ance, are the necessary possessions of every individual, in 
order to fit him to receive the means of regeneration called 
baptism, by which he becomes an heir to that incorruptible 
inheritance. Whatever theologians may say to evade these 
truths, or, by their so-called Higher Criticism, form an 
excuse to ignore them, they will remain unmovably fixed 
by God in the heart of His people, being incontrovertibly 
supported by His revealed Word. This is the righteous- 
ness of God, and he who accepts these truths accepts God. 
j^or is there any prescribed limit to them, "For out of 
every nation, he that feareth God and worketh righteous- 
ness is accepted of Him."'^ He who rejects them, rejects 
the means of receiving them, and must abide by the decree 
of the court, which is the judgment seat of God, whose 
sentence is, "Depart from Me, ye workers of iniquity." 
"For the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor 
sinners in the congregation of the righteousness."^ 

True repentance contains conditions of salvation; and 
for this reason is of great worth to the truly penitent. The 
groundwork of a genuine conversion depends upon the 
kind of repentance which has preceded it. Our belief may be 
somewhat circumscribed, our faith but partially developed ; 
but our repentance must be full and complete. Here is a 
field of our own, in which none other has the right to in- 
trude. To know ourselves now is imperative, and duty 
becomes heroic. We may compromise with man without 
sensitively feeling the force of guilt; but not so with God. 
It is not enough to know our guilt ; we must feel the weight 
of it. W^e may confess to ourselves that our acts have been 
wrong and sinful, in omission as well as in commission ; we 
must also openly confess to God, and that from the depth 
of our soul, in humble submission to God and the right- 



7 Acts X, 35. 8 Psalm i, 5. 



Eepentance. ^3 

eousness of His demands. This is the meaning of what the 
Scriptures call a godly sorrow for sin that worketh a re- 
pentance unto salvation. God and His Word is truth, 
but both require a witness; and this principle has always 
been adhered to throughout the entire revelation from 
Heaven. 

May we not, then, conclude that, in order to manifest 
true repentance, there must be an evidence of the same? 
This was the point where he who was baptizing in Jordan 
demanded a halt. '^Truits meet for repentance," was the 
evidence required then ; it is the evidence required now. If 
the goodness of God is the means that leads us to repent- 
ance, then the grace of God is the means that teaches us 
how to repent, as evidence the words of the apostle, ^Tor 
the grace of God that bringeth salvation has appeared unto 
all men; teaching them that denying all ungodliness and 
worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly 
in this present world."® 

A godly sorrow for sin implies a sorrow for all ungodli- 
ness, and a willingness to forsake it. So long as there is 
an evidence of ungodliness in or about us, the repentance 
is not genuine, for the reason that there still remains 
something to be repented of. The king of Nineveh gave to 
the world an example of repentance which, for fullness of 
meaning and effectual results, has few parallels. Too well 
did the king know that, while clothed in his kingly robes 
and fleshly lusts, he might vainly strive to show the in- 
ward feeling of his heart and soul. If, indeed, sorrow and 
remorse have filled" my soul, let sackcloth clothe my body. 
If I am living in the consuming flames of destruction, I 
will declare my sorrow by sitting in the ashes of repentance. 
This is repentance qualified; this is repentance justified; 
and a repentance whose fruit is salvation. Nor did the 
fruit of his repentance die with that king and people. It 
remained for the Son of God to proclaim to the world that, 

9Titusii, 11. 



94 "Ammi — My People/' 

in the da}^ of coming judgment^ the power of that repent- 
ance will pass condemnation upon them who despise it. 
"The men of Nineveh shall rise up in judgment with this 
generation, and condemn it; because they repented at the 
preaching of Jonah; and, behold, a greater than Jonah is 
here/'^'^ 

May we not now ask. Can a body that is clothed with 
all that fleshly lust could invent, and ungodly pride put on, 
give evidence of a trul}^ penitent heart? So long as the 
god of fashion of this world adorns the body, can it be 
thought that the God of grace and purity fills the heart? 
To all who, in deed and in truth, love God and desire sal- 
vation upon His terms, there is but one answer ; and that 
answer is, N"o. Upon the other hand, the denying of these, 
with all other ungodly things, is evidence required of us 
to prove a reformation of life. Nothing is more false, nor 
is there anything more universally accepted, than that the 
religion of Jesus Christ makes no demands of men on this 
point. It is denied upon the threshold of entering into a 
covenant with God, and therefore has no binding force 
thereafter. 

Having ignored the principle of self-denial by listen- 
ing to almost all that lust could desire, the room for re- 
pentance, if any, is very small; forgetting that, in remov- 
ing the sacrifice, the power of any religion is lost; for no 
religion is worth more than the sacrifice upon which it is 
built. Let this thought be seriously considered; let men 
ask themselves the question, "Am I of the world ; or am T 
separate from the world? If I have chosen Christ, and 
He has chosen me; has that choosing brought me out of 
the world ?"^^ Jesus Christ said unto His disciples, "Ye 
are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the 
world ; therefore the world knoweth you not." Could there 
be a better reason why the people of God should separate 
themselves from the gatherings of ungodly men and de- 



10 Matt, xii, 41. " 2 Peter iii, 22, 



Repentance. 95 

grading associations, where vice stalks naked, and glory 
is crowned in her deepest shame? Well says the apostle, 
"What concord has light with darkness, or Christ with Be- 
lial?'^ What agreement, or fellowship, can the people of 
God have with such things? Let ns so answer and act 
that the echo in eternity may not canse ns to blush. 

True repentance brings tis where God will accept us, 
and, having reached that position, we can never return to 
the place we left. It is as though we had crossed the 
stream and burned the bridge behind us. We may fall 
away, we may deny the covenant, we may turn again as 
the "dog to his vomit or the sow to her wallowing in the 
mire/' but we can never stand in the same relation to God 
and man as we once did. The obligations of that covenant 
can not be annulled, nor its full benefits ever enjoyed, so 
long as time shall last. This is why it is better never to 
vow, than to vow and not pay. 

On the other hand^ we have "crucified the Lord afresh, 
and put Him to an open shame;" for which thing the 
apostle declares, "It is impossible to renew them again to 
repentance." Eepentance brings joy and peace to the sin- 
ner's soul, and gives a rest to which the world is a stranger. 
It creates joy in the Church, both on earth and in heaven. 
"For there is more joy in heaven over one sinner that re- 
penteth than over ninety and nine just persons that need 
no repentance." 

•Who can measure the fullness of that joy when heaven 
and angels join in the chorus? or the depth of emotion 
within the breast of the Father when the prodigal returns? 
Whatever may be the bounds of our Master's teaching, or 
the meaning contained in the parables spoken, none is more 
comforting to the weary, tired soul than the return of the 
prodigal to his father's house. Friendless and homeless, 
guilty and undone; though swine were his companions, 
and a wasted ambition his reward, there was still a way of 
escape : " *I will arise, and go to my father's house,' 



96 "Ammi — My People/' 

There is bread there and to spare; there is still a father's 
love at home ; may it await my coming ! Ah ! I will go 
home again^ but I will not ask the fullness of that love. 
No, I am not worthy, I only want to be at home once 
more, even though it be as a hired servant. I have tried my 
own way, and found it wrong. It seemed good unto me, 
but the end brought me to ruin and despair. To remain 
here is to perish in filth and disappointment.'' Here is an 
example of repentance by divine teaching; one which is 
full to overflowing with simplicity and tenderness; which 
Heaven alone can draw ; yet within the reach of every true 
penitent soul that seeks a home with God. And thus on- 
ward through increasing generations and increasing sin, the 
voice of the Son of God comes to us with increasing force, 
— "Eepent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." 



THE SCRIPTURAL MEANING OF THE WORD 
"BAPTIZE." 

Possibly there is no other doctrine in the teachings 
of Jesus upon which so much has been written and spoken, 
which has engaged so many minds, has been made to mean 
so many different things, and has been observed in so many 
different ways, as the ordinance of baptism. The cause, 
no doubt, lies in the emphasis which has been placed upon 
this rite. Men have made it the master-wheel of the en- 
tire economy of grace. They have looked upon it as the 
all-sufficient test of orthodoxy, the all-overreaching means 
for entering into the family of God. As circumcision 
was the door or leading rite in the Jewish Church, so bap- 
tism has been held as the door or leading ordinance in 
the Christian Church. 

This may be true in one sense, and wrong in another. 
Baptism in itself has no saving power; nor have the other 
ordinances any saving power within themselves. Baptism 
has a specific meaning and work, beyond which it can not 
go. The Scriptural teaching is that we are saved by belief, 
by hope, by faith, by grace, by baptism ; yet not by any of 
these alone ; but through a combination of all, — as in the 
natural life we live by breathing, eating, sleeping, exer- 
cising, etc. That baptism is essential in order to accom- 
plish an end is all but universally accepted by those who 
regard revelation as divine. Jesus Christ declared, both 
by precept and example, that no man can enter the king- 
dom of heaven unless being born of water and of the 
Spirit. The fact that it is the unchangeable law of nature 
that nothing can pass from one kingdom into another but 
7 97 



98 "Ammi— My People." 

by being born into it, argues forcibly the right to claim for 
baptism what Jesus demanded. 

While belief changes the thought, and repentance the 
action, it remains for baptism to change the relation. Un- 
less the relation is changed, there can be no right of in- 
heritance, seeing that "flesh and blood can not inherit the 
kingdom of God." It must now appear clear why baptism 
has demanded the attention of so many minds. But it is 
not clear why so many minds should be at a loss to com- 
prehend its meaning. Since it is a fixed conclusion that 
the Scriptures are their own ' interpreter, all men are ir- 
resistibly drawn to accept them in the primary sense of the 
language in which they come to us. Should this be de- 
nied, upon what premise can the claim rest for a common 
salvation ? 

That the common people understood our Lord, and 
heard Him gladly, is proof that His language was within 
their capacity. !N"or can it be shown, until the worldly 
wise began to cavil about the nieaning of common words, 
that there was any unrest manifested on the part of be- 
lievers. That the Gospel was delivered to ordinary, un- 
learned men is further proof of its simplicity. Hence we 
are assured that, to arrive at the proper understanding of 
the Scriptures, we must accept them in the simplicity with 
which they were given. 

Whilst the word baptize is inseparably connected with 
a change of relation, there is another word which Christ 
used to express the same result. When the Master in 
Israel came to him saying, "We know Thou art a teacher 
come from God," the answer of Jesus was : "Except a man 
be born again he can not see the kingdom of God."^ Men 
may cavil and contend about the meaning of the word bap- 
tize, but they can understand the meaning of the word horn. 
This master of Israel understood it. His words express 
his convictions : "How can a man be born when he is old ?"^ 



iJohnm, 5. 2johnm,4. 



Scriptural Meaning of "Baptize/^ 99 

There is no room for- doubt as to how this Pharisee nnder- 
stood the meaning of our Lord's words: "Can he enter 
the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?"^ 
Could any one come to another conclusion from the reply 
that Jesus made to this master in Israel ? Does not the path 
to the unknown lead through the things that are known? 
Does not the whole structure of parable-teaching rest here ? 
iN'ot until men become wise enough to learn this profound 
truth will they be able to understand the law of God. 
When we become honest and simple enough to use what we 
have, then will the natural become more spiritual, and 
the spiritual the more natural. 

Whilst man is composed of a trinity of parts, he has 
only a dual environment, — the natural and the spiritual, 
with unity of law governing both : not two laws, but one. 
What, then, is the result? The most logical that could 
be conceived of, — the natural is but the key to the spiritual, 
the ladder by which we approach the higher from the 
lower. The words of Pascal are appropriate here: "Na- 
ture is the image of grace." Still more fitting are the 
words of Paul to the Eomans: "For the invisible things 
of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, 
being understood by the things that are made, even His 
eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without ex- 
cuse."* Believing that Paul, speaking by the Spirit of 
inspiration, testifies to the truth, we are safe in following 
His counsel through the defense of the doctrine He affirmed 
while in the service of his Lord. 

Starting with the discussion of a birth, naturally sug- 
gests a consideration of what we term life. Being born 
is not the genesis or creation of life, but a bringing forth 
unto life. There is life before birth, but life at that point 
is in darkness ; and here is the meaning and power of birth, 
— to bring forth unto life or light. This is the direct and 
primary pu.rpose of salvation, — to bring from darkness 

3 John lil, 4. 4 Rom. i, 20. 



100 "Ammi— My People/' 

unto light. "The whole world lieth in darkness," but 
Christ came to give it light and life. "I am come that they 
might have life."^ Again he says, "I am the light of the 
world." Light and life, from a Scriptural point of view, 
are inseparable. 

How reasonable, then, it is, when a sinner is brought 
into the kingdom of light, that he should be born into it ! 
Nothing could come so near harmonizing with natural 
things and the unity of law. It would be nothing short 
of folly to resist this plain fact, since Christ says, "Ye 
must be born again." The word "again" infers the repeti- 
tion of an action, which had been previously performed; 
and this truth was discerned by the man Nicodemus, to 
whom Jesus spake the words, "Ye must be born again." 
To a teachable mind accepting the primary meaning of 
words, the question must inevitably be, "How can a man 
be born when he is old?" Had no further explanation 
been given, the matter would have remained forever a mys- 
tery. The conclusion of Nicodemus was a logical one; 
none other was admissible. This Pharisee had exhausted 
his knowledge of known things, and beyond that he could 
not go until he received further light. No one could have 
gone to greater length. Words have their meaning, and 
the direct or primary one is always the safest. And here, 
so far as the master of Israel knew, and so far as we can 
know up to that point, the problem must rest, in the face 
of an impossibility. 

It may be well to add here that we may not be misun- 
derstood in the quotation from Eomans i, 20, the visible 
things teach the power and existence of a God of law ; but 
do not and can not teach, until revealed, what those things 
are which are governed by that law. Hence the necessity 
of a revelation. For it is always to be remembered that 
the higher kingdom must reveal itself to the lower; this 
law is universal. 



6Johnx, 10. 



Scriptural Meaning of "Baptize/^ 101 

We left our problem in the mind of ^icodemns as an 
impossibility. But Jesus answered, "Verily, verily, I say 
unto you, except a man be born of water and af the Spirit, 
he can not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Did that 
Pharisee still think that this Teacher came from God ? Is 
there anything in the answer of Jesus to this man that 
tends to depose the idea of a birth ? None whatever. The 
law that governs generation is well understood; this man 
to whom Jesus was speaking comprehended it as thoroughly 
as we may if we choose. One thing now becomes an incon- 
trovertible fact; namely, since the law^ of generation re- 
mains unchangeable, the law of regeneration must remain 
likewise. If these principles are not to abide, there is no 
abiding place. Eemove these plain truths, and revelation 
is without meaning, and faith a myth. 

Had the ruler of Israel applied his knowledge of known 
things, he could have solved the impossibility that con- 
fronted him. Let the nations of to-day be equally as wise, 
and the ordinance of baptism, through the likeness of a 
birth, becomes but a simple principle in the application of 
law. What, then, does this law of generation imply? In 
what condition must matter be found, before this law has 
force? The answer is at hand. First, a thing must be 
conceived, hid in darkness; second, that from which a 
thing is to be born must contain the thing which is to be 
born; third, that which is born must come from darkness 
to light. No science, reason, or sophistry can successfully 
controvert these propositions. They stand supported by 
an unchangeable law of creation, which runs throughout 
the infinite field of redemption, from the fact that there 
is not a divine truth bnt has the field of nature as its basis. 

After our Lord had removed the thought of impos- 
sibility which confronted this ruler by saying, "Except a 
man be born of water and of the Spirit, he can not enter 
into the kingdom of God,'^ there was no room for Nico- 
demus to sa}^, "How can these things be ?" as evidence our 



102 "Ammi— My People." 

Lord's reply, "Art tlioii a master of Israel, and knowest 
not tliese things?"' Had this Pharisee reasoned as well 
iij^on this point as he did in the beginning, he wonld liave 
shown himself wiser. Should it not have occurred to him 
that the element water was all-sufficient to meet the de- 
mand? He could thus have removed from his mind the 
seeming impossibility', and received the answer to his own 
question. The element water is abundantly able to fill the 
requirements of the preceding propositions. An individual 
can enter into water ; be conceived, or concealed, in water ; 
and, lastly, come forth from water, — s5'mbolizing in every 
step a perfect harmony with the law of natural birth and 
of generation. And to this the Scriptures bear testimonj' : 
"But according to His mercy He has saved us, by the wash- 
ing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost.'' 

Again, the apostle says, "'Being born again." .Will any 
one undertake to separate the washing of regeneration aind 
the act of being born again? Will any one claim the right 
to say that to be born of water, and to pass through the 
washing of regeneration, and to be baptized, are not one 
and the same thing? If so, then it can be reasonably con- 
cluded that such a one" is not a fit subject for baptism. 

There can be no profit in reasoning with the blind about 
color. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that 
which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I 
say unto you. Ye must be born again.*' In this language 
our Lord draws a parallel, and emphasizes the necessity 
of complying thereto. One thing is peculiar to this agree- 
ment between Christ and Xicodemus; baptism is here 
taught and exemplified without the word baptism being 
used in connection with the teaching. Let the literal or 
primary meaning of the words have their fojce, and how 
easil}^ we come to a perfect harmony in all the arrange- 
ments of Heaven I The natural birth, or generation, brings 
us into the kingdom of law. The spiritual birth, or regen- 
eration, brings us into the kingdom of grace. The resur- 



Scriptural Meaning of "Baptize/^ 103 

rection, or birth from the grave, brings us into the kingdom 
of glory. 

An aversion to being born of water has so impressed 
the minds of worldly wise men as to cause them to en- 
deavor to wrench from the command its primary mean- 
ing. They have supplanted the primary by the figurative, 
and, by so doing, the real meaning is lost sight of. That 
there is a figure connected with baptism is readily accepted ; 
howbeit the figure belongs to the act, and not to the lan- 
guage describing the act. That baptism is a type or figure 
of birth, the Scriptures affirm so plainly that no teachable 
mind can fail to see it. The typology of the Scriptures 
contains their most important truths. This manner of 
teaching by type, or object lesson, has been Heaven's 
method since revelation began; and he who would profit 
by the meaning must preserve .the harmony between the 
type and the antitype, the real and the figurative; other- 
wise he is perplexed by an unsolved and unsolvable prob- 
lem. The Old and I^ew Testament Scriptures contain a 
great amount of this manner of teaching. The design is to 
bring before the mind an object or act with which the 
individual is familiar; then, by likening the lesson in- 
tended to that which is known or seen, the mind is the 
more easily instructed. This is the power of typical teach- 
ing. Hence the conclusion, to the unprejudiced mind, 
must be that Jesus Christ and His apostles taught immer- 
sion in water as Christian baptism. 

Our second reason is founded upon the words of Jesus 
to His disciples: "I have a baptism to be baptized with, 
and how am I straitened until it be accomplished." If 
this language is to have any force in determining the mean- 
ing of the word baptism, there must be a likeness in the 
condition of the subject in both acts; otherwise it is of 
no weight in the investigation. Our first point is, Christ 
must have recognized a similarity or likeness, from the 
fact that He uses the same .word to express both acts.. If 



104 "Ammi — My People/'' 

the word baptize, when referring to the use of water, 
means immersion, then when referring to His suffering it 
must mean the same thing. 

In examining the circumstance we find the following 
expressions: "N'ow is My soul troubled;^' "Father, save 
Me from this hour;'^ "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, 
even unto death;" "If it be possible, let this- cup pass.'^ 
The evangelist in describing the scene says, "His sweat be- 
came as great drops of blood falling to the ground." So 
intense was this suffering of the Son of God that when it 
was passed, there was need of angels to strengthen Him, 

How like an immersion was this suffering! It em- 
braced the subject; in a most comprehensive manner it 
concealed the subject by transforming Him into another 
condition. It encompassed the subject round about on 
every hand; so much so that there was no word our Lord 
could use to express the condition as fully as the word bap- 
tism. The weight of our argument lies in the fact that 
Christ considered this suffering a baptism, and since we 
have seen the nature of it, we can also see the likeness in 
the subject's condition, as expressed by the word baptism. 

Further, we observe that this meaning attached to our 
Lord's words is not an unusual one, being used by other 
writers in the Sacred Book. In the Psalm xlii, 7, we read, 
"All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me." Again, 
in Psalm Ixxxviii, 7 : "Thou hast afflicted me with all 
thy waves." Here the psalmist, in speaking of the depth 
of affliction and sorrow, compares it to a submersion in 
water, which is in harmony with the words of Jesus. The 
truth of the matter is, David in prophetic language was 
describing the coming suffering of Christ. Blind indeed 
must be our eyes, while admiring the mercy of God, that 
we can not see the harmony in his words. In Psalm cxxiv, 
the prophet, in describing the troubles into which the 
Church had come, and would come again, uses the follow- 
ing words: "Then the proud waters had gone over my 



Scriptural Meaning of "Baptize/" 105 

soul." If there is any meaning in words, the psahnist 
could not have chosen more appropriate ones to illustrate 
the theme upon which we are dwelling. 

Nothing could have been more consistent and becom- 
ing on the part of the Divine Teacher than to have used 
words whose meaning was associated with the thing of 
which he was speaking. If once we admit that He was a 
Teacher come from God, then are we forever bound to ac- 
cept His words, and also the manner in which He uttered 
them. For by His Sonship and suffering He was made 
perfect; and in this perfection He became the Author of 
eternal salvation unto all those who obey Him. The special 
power in the teaching of Christ lay in the simplicity and 
fullness of the language to convey the thought intended. 
Xothing could have been more detrimental to His influence 
as a Teacher than to use words of doubtful meaning or 
construction. On the contrary, it was His plainness of 
speech and power in the use of words that left the Pharisees 
no cloak for their sins. N'or was the language in which 
our Lord spoke lacking in words for completeness. Had 
cur Lord intended anything but immersion for Christian 
baptism. He had ready at hand a number of words which 
convey, beyond any dispute, all the different renderings 
used in the religious world for baptism. For instance, we 
have the word "Louo," to wash the whole. body; "Loutron " 
to bathe, a bath; "Eantizo," to sprinkle; "Echeo," to 
wash; "Mpto," to wash a part of the body; "Bapto," to 
dip. Passing over all the common words, Christ makes 
choice of the one which expresses the intention as well as 
the thing intended. The word "Bapto" being the root 
from which a number of derivatives are formed, means to 
dip ; and is so translated by all Greek scholars of any note. 
AVhile some of our modern lexicographers say it may mean 
to bathe, to pour, to sprinkle, they nevertheless admit that 
the primary meaning is to dip. 

We will now go to the Scriptures, and learn whether or 



106 "Ammi— My Peo;ple/' 

not this use of the word by Christ was a new one, or in 
accord with the common custom in that day as used by the 
Greeks themselves. If it can be proven that the use our 
Lord made of the word '^'Baptizo" was in accord with the 
common or general custom of that day, then the matter, to 
all teachable minds, is laid at rest, and nothing but preju- 
dice can cause any one to stumble. "Ye shall take a bunch 
of hyssop and bapto (dip) it in the blood.'^^ "And the 
priest shall bapto (dip) his finger in the blood."^ And he 
baptizo (dipped) his finger in the blood."^ "And shall 
bapto (dip) them in the blood of the living bird."^ And 
the priest shall bapto (dip) his right finger in the oil."^^ 
"And bapto (dip) them in the blood of the living bird."^^ * 
"And a clean person shall take hyssop and bapto (dip) it in 
water."^2 "And let him bapto (dip) his feet in oil."^' "The 
feet of the priest that bare the ark were baptizo (dipped) in 
Jordan."^* "Eat of the bread, and bapto (dip) thy morsel 
in the vinegar."^^ "Wherefore he put forth the end of the 
rod that was in his hand, and baptizo (dipped) it in the 
honeycomb."^® "Then went he down and baptizo (dipped) 
himself seven times in Jordan."^^ "And it came to pass on 
the morrow, he took a thick piece of cloth and baptizo 
(dipped) it in water ."^^ "That thy foot may be baptizo 
(dipped) in the blood of thy enemies."^^ 

These are some passages in the Old Scriptures where 
the word Bapto and Baptizo are used, and in every in- 
stance they plainly convey the idea of immersion; the use 
being the same as in the 'New Testament and throughout 
wherever the action of dipping or immersing is expressed. 
Would any court of inquiry require better testimony, espe- 
cially when it is all onesided and all in harmony? • 

Further, it is claimed by many Greek and -Hebrew 
scholars that the word Bapto belongs to a small class of 



6 Ex. xil, 22. 7 Lev. iv, 6, 17. 8 Lev. Ix, 9. ^ Lev. xiv, 6. 

10 Lev. xiv, 6. " Lev. xiv, 51. 12 Num. xix, 18. 

" Deut. xxxlil, 24. " josli. iii, 24. »& Ruth ii, 14. le 1 gam. xiv, 27. 
17 2 Kings V, 14. 18 2 Kings viii, 15. i^ Psalm Ixviii, 27. 



'Scriptural Mean^ing of "Baptize/^ 107 

words in their language that denote but one thing or ob- 
ject, — a statement of grave import in the investigation of 
this subject. Only by the use of words in the language to 
\vhich they belong can their proper meaning be ascertained. 
And if usage be the only certain means by which the action 
denoted by Bapto can be determined, and usage uniformly 
employs that word to denote the action of dipping, by what 
authority does any human being assign to it a different 
meaning, or make it iienote a different action? Is not its 
meaning, then, fixed and established upon the same foun- 
dation as all other words in God's Book? Surely there 
must be some definite use or meaning attached to a word 
when used to denote a special thing or act. If not, the 
whole Scripture is a misnomer, and we are plunged in 
chaos, and not far removed from the scene of the tower of 
Babel. But we can not permit the matter to rest here. We 
have found, by custom, usage, and the law of language, 
that Baptizo nieans to immerse. \\e have also found that 
all the inspired writers have complied with that usage of 
the Vord. . To deny, then, that baptism by immersion is 
not sustained by the Scriptures is but to kick against the 
goads. 

Our third argument in favor of immersion as Chris- 
tian baptism is drawn from the following Scripture: "I 
indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He 
{hat Cometh after me is mightier than I. He will baptize' 
you with the Holy Ghost and with fire'' (Gr. in fire). 
There are four kinds of baptism spoken of in the Scrip- 
tures, — baptism of water, baptism, of suffering, baptism of 
the Holy Ghost, and baptism of fire. That the earth was 
in a baptism of water during the flood no one can deny. 
It was immersed in water. There can be no question as 
to how the water was applied. It came from above and 
from beneath. The object was to baptize the world in 
water, in order to wash it of sinners. Suffice it to say, the 
end was accomplished, and that by immersion. The end 



108 "Ammi— My People/' 

to be accomplished was to cleanse the world of sin; the 
means were applied by an immersion. The same means 
are now applied to wash sinners of their sins, the means of 
immersion. 

The antediluvian world had become ready for a cleans- 
ing, and the God of heaven prepared the means, and out of 
baptism came a clean earth, having been washed with water. 
The Apostle Peter, in speaking of this circumstance, says, 
^^The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now 
save "lis." This is the only application of water mentioned 
in the Old Scriptures where that element has been used 
to put away sin. All the washings under the law could 
not accomplish that purpose ; they could but make the par- 
takers thereof partly clean. As the flood accomplished to 
the u.ttermost the desired end, so also does baptism for 
the remission of sins, when correctly complied with. The 
subject becomes ancAV creature. He does not receive a 
new spirit, but a renewing or converting of the old into a 
new life; nor was there a new earth created, but a renew- 
ing of the old ; and this was accomplished by water through 
the action of im^mersion. 

The baptism of the Holy Ghost was similarl}^ over- 
whelming; it filled the house wherein the disciples were 
sitting. Anything short of that would not have been in 
keeping with the meaning of the word. The question may 
arise as to how the spirit was applied. We are not con- 
cerned with that at present; the point Ave wish to make, 
and the point the evangelist made, is: "It filled the 
house." And as they were all in the house, the conclusion 
is that they were all immersed in the Spirit, and the Spirit 
Avas immersed in them. Here again are all the demands 
complied Avith that are implied in the words Bapto, Piap- 
tize, and Baptism. 

Again, in the Scripture quoted there is a reference to a 
baptism of fire (or in fire). Greek, by Ben Wilson: "He 
Avill immerse you in the Holy Ghost and in fire." Word- 



Scriptural Meaning or "Baptize/^ 109 

for-word translation: "He will dip you in the Holy 
Ghost and in fire.'^ This portion of the Scrip- 
ture is variously understood by students of reve- 
lation. Because of this fact we wish to notice it the 
more carefully. Holding still the thought that words 
claim, first of all, their primary meaning, as also the 
thought that the Scriptures are their own interpreter, we 
have no doubt that a correct understanding of the fore- 
going language may be arrived at. 

In the words of John the Baptist, we note the follow- 
ing: "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, 
but He [referring to Christ], when He comes, will baptize 
you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.^' It is thought by 
some that this baptism of fire came with the baptism of 
the Holy Ghost, a dual baptism ; but this will not explain 
the prophecy of the prophet. The prophet was speaking to 
the world as the world met him, a mixed assembly of be- 
lievers and unbelievers. He was announcing a prophecy 
unto them to be fulfilled in Him who was to come. The 
baptism of the Holy Ghost was fulfilled on the Day of 
Pentecost; the parting counsel of our Lord to His disci- 
ples was to tarry at Jerusalem until they should be endued 
with power from on high. In due time that promise and 
prophecy were made good: "And they were all with one 
accord in one place ; and suddenly there came a sound from 
heaven as of a mighty rushing wind; and it filled the 
house wherein they were sitting. And there appeared unto 
them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon eacli 
of them." There is nothing stated in this Scripture that 
claims the presence of the element of fire; the words are 
like as of fire. A thing may be like fire, and at the same 
time be very far from the real element itself. 

Baptism is likened unto a resurrection, and in one sense 
it is ; yet it is very far from the resurrection of which Paul 
and the Eevelator speak. A son may be very like his father. 



110 "Ammi— My People." 

and yet that does not by any means make the father and 
son the same person. 

We now turn to the twelfth verse of the chapter: 
"Whose fan is in his hand^ and he will thoroughly purge 
his floor and gather the wheat into the garner ; but he will 
burn the chaff with unquenchable fire/' By connecting 
the two verses we get the whole thought in a connected 
form. There can be no doubt as to the meaning of the 
Scripture referred to when taken in this connected sense. 

John the Baptist was a great prophet. It takes great 
prophets to prophesy great things. His prophecy began 
with the opening of the kingdom of Christ, and reaches 
forward to the closing scenes on earth. To limit this 
prophecy to the outpouring of the Holy Ghost upon the 
Day of Pentecost is far short of its meaning; nor are the 
conditions fulfilled within that scope. 

In the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew and forty-first 
verse we read : "Then shall He say also unto them on his 
left hand. Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire 
prepared for the devil and his angels." The world at the 
time sentence is pronounced will be enveloped in fire, or, 
as the Greek has it, dipped in fire. 

The Apostle Peter (Peter ii, 3) confirms this conclu- 
sion : "Whereby the world that then was being overflowed 
with water perished; but the heavens and the earth, which 
are now by the same word, are kept in store reserved unto 
fire and perdition of ungodly men." Here is the agreeing 
testimony of two inspired men when speaking of the same 
thing, and referring to the same time. The prophecy of 
I'eter contains every demand made in the one uttered by 
the forerunner -^f Christ. We think there is no further 
need of comment. To say that the apostle meant anything 
but a similarity of condition is nothing short of an at- 
tempt to wrest the Scriptures. The words, "The world that 
then was being overflowed by water perished ; but the world 



Scriptural Meaning of "Baptize/' 111 

that now is, is reserved unto fire/^ clinches the point that, 
as the old world was overflowed b}' water, in like manner 
the world that now is shall be immersed in fire. 

Our point is made, and sustained by the Scriptures, 
that the word Baptize, or Baptism, expresses the action of 
immersion, and when tested from 'Noah to the da}^ of judg- 
ment, the Scriptures prove themselves harmonious. 



TEINE IMMERSION. 

Whilst the contest has been waging as to the Scrip- 
tural authority for immersion as being Christian baptism, 
the same, if not a more bitter, contest has been waged 
against Trine Immersion. Even among those who have a 
unity of belief concerning the doctrine of immersion, a 
diversity of opinion exists as to the manner or mode of 
administering the ordinance. Others there are who are 
not particular as to the mode, providing the action of im- 
mersion constitutes the ordinance, not regarding the mode 
as important. One thing is quite evident, the principle of 
sectarianism is fast giving way to liberal views, not only in 
regard to this ordinance, but as to all other principles of 
faith and doctrine. 

Doctrinal lines are becoming so obscured as to be hardly 
noticeable in the majority of Churches, even among those 
who at one time occupied extreme grounds in relation to 
doctrine. When once cold indifference fastens upon the 
minds of the people as touching the sacred emphasis which 
God has placed upon His Word, there is no saving power 
in the religion that Word teaches. Man is ever ready to 
flatter himself upon his acquirements, and most of all as 
to his progress in righteousness or theological comprehen- 
sion. But the history of the past teaches with unerring 
certainty his universal failure. The Scriptural teaching is, 
"When we are weak, then we are strong." The opposite 
view teaches that when we think we are strong, then are 
we weak. 

The history of the religious world stands as evidence 
against man^s fidelity to the law of his Creator. Strange 
as it may seem, man has always shown more fidelity to the 

112 



Trine Immersion. 113 

god of his own making than to the God of heaven. We 
need only refer to idolatrous worship the world over. The 
inconsistency of this appears upon its face. That man 
should out of his own imaginations contrive a god, and 
worship it, is so absurd as to need no comment. That the 
so-called religious world is removed from this idolatrous 
practice is not to be accepted without some investigation. 
When we call to mind the careless indifference professing 
people show toward the true spirit and meaning of re- 
vealed truth, we stand in astonishment at man's presump- 
tion. Nor is there the least excuse for this, from the fact 
that the Scriptures bear the most warranted evidence of 
their authorship. God has given unlimited assurance of 
His wisdom and power, has shown to man His unerring 
designs and infinite purposes, by the unchangeableness of 
His word and ways, in all ages, in the natural as well as 
in the spiritual kingdom. By signs and wonders and 
divers miracles, by mercy and justice, by power and de- 
liverance, He approved Himself to the house of Jacob. 
Yet even then they turned to gods of their own making, 
and with increased zeal bowed to images of wood and stone. 
They rejected His presence, they rejected His power, His 
Word, and His prophets, and, lastly, they rejected His Son. 
If the crowning sin of the Jewish nation was the rejection 
of Christ, then the supreme presumption of the Gentile 
nation is in rejecting Christ's Word. 

How much the present religious world resembles the 
house of Israel,. will forcibly appear when we compare the 
two. Israel greatly desired the blessings of the law, but 
utterly failed to keep that law. They were friends to the 
outward part of the ritualism of that law, but strangers 
to the principles upon which the law was built, — Mercy, 
Faith, and Judgment. Many are the judgments pro- 
nounced against that people and nation, but none more 
severe than that uttered by the Spirit through the Reve- 
lator: "Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of 
8 



114 "Ammi— My People/' 

Satan who say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie/'^ 
The professing world of the present day fondly embraces 
the blessings contained in the promises of the Gospel, while 
they utterly ignore the conditions upon which the bless- 
ings are promised. They accept revelation as a gift from 
God, bnt claim the right to determine what that revelation 
means. While they admit the conditions may have been 
adapted to man's state at the time they were presented, 
they are nevertheless entirely inharmonious with the re- 
fined advancement of the present age. It may have been 
no shock to Society then to witness the immersion of a 
woman in Jordan, but what says the spirit of society now ? 

How much of the doctrine of the humble N'azarene is 
accepted as binding upon believers now? What meaning 
has the cross and self-denial in the general drift of opinion 
among religious men and women now f Denying the com- 
mands, casting aside the example of obedience, and in- 
stead teaching for doctrine the commandments of men; 
presuming the authority to read their own opinions into 
the Scriptures first, then in turn reading them as inspira- 
tion, — in this has the religious world virtually said, "Make 
us gods to go before us," as did Israel of old. 

How long will it take the nations to know that "I AM 
is God,'' and that there is no imperfection in His Word or 
works? Grant once that the revelation from Heaven is 
passive and unstable, what have we left upon which to 
build? Nothing! Unless there is a positive and definite 
meaning attached to the Word of God, it is not the mes- 
sage from the God -it claims to reveal. There can be no 
other conclusion drawn from its contents. 

Passing from this doubting, disbelieving, and, to a 
great extent, idolatrous condition of the religious' world, 
we arrive at our subject, and affirm that the Word of God 
is positive and unchangeable, as God is unchangeable ; and 
the conditions upon which He promised salvation to the 



1 Eev. 1, 9. 



Trine Immersion. 115 

world in the time of Christ and the apostles remain im- 
movable as the rock upon which they were built. All that 
was spoken to the world and to individuals by way of com- 
mand when Jesus spoke face to face with men and women, 
He speaks to us, and in the same positive manner in which 
He spoke to them. Whilst the command was given to bap- 
tize the nations, it was as emphatically told how that bap- 
tism was to be performed. For nowhere can it be found 
that the people were commanded to perform an act with- 
out the manner of performance being stated likewise. It 
is further affirmed that nowhere in the Scriptures can a 
word be found where God gave a command to His people, 
and accepted of two ways of obeying that command. 

Feeling thus far that our position is incontrovertible, 
it then follows with emphasis that we should know what 
we must do as well as how to do it. There is but one Voice 
that can proclaim to us with unerring certainty what our 
duty is — the Voice from above. In listening to that Voice 
we catch the echo, "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, 
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost.''^ 

Our first argument in favor of Trine Immersions is 
based upon the preceding Scripture. This Scripture is 
usually given as embracing the whole commission; but it 
does not. We will complete it: "Teaching them to ob- 
serve all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, 
lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."^ 
This is the only testimony the world has ever had from 
the lips of Jesus concerning the mode of baptism. 

There is a significance concerning the commission 
which has been passed over too lightly by many who have 
written or spoken in favor of Trinef Immersion. The point 
is, it is a trine commission,— a commission implying a 
trinity of action in order to be obe3^ed : 1. "Go and teach all 
nations." After they are taught correctly, — 2. "Baptizing 



a Matt. xxvUi, 19. s Matt, xxvlii, 19. 



116 "Ammi— My People/' 

them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 
the Holy Ghost." 3. "Teaching them to observe all things 
whatsoever I have said nnto yon." It is not claimed that 
the three acts in the commission prove Trine Immersion; 
bnt it is claimed that they prove a trinity of action or 
power in the Godhead. When this is once established. 
Trine Immersion becomes self-evident. 

The teaching of Jesus is : "No man cometh nnto Me 
except the Father who has sent Me draw him."* This is 
equivalent to saying that no man can come to Me except 
by an action or work performed on the part of the Father. 
To this there can be no reply. God is first in the work. 
"My 'Father worketh hitherto, and I work." The apostle 
says, "Knowest thou not that the goodness of God leadeth 
thee to repentance ?"^ 

To teach the nations the goodness of God, the mercy, 
the kindness, the love of God for them, in giving His Son 
to them for a Savior, a ransom for sinners, — such is the 
lesson. "Behold what manner of love the Father hath be- 
stowed upon them!" This manner of love from God to 
sinners, when properly taught, heard, and received, will 
beget love in the sinner's heart to God. Here is where God 
and the sinner meet, — a love meeting; a place where tears 
can flow unchecked, while the throbbings of the heart long 
for life anew ; a place where confidence begins, and friend- 
ship is established. 

How reasonable, then, that God should now lead the 
sinner to the object of His love, the Son, where the prodi- 
gal can find rest for his soul ! So far it is the drawing of 
the Father, drawing the sinner to light and life. The law 
of consistency demands it should be so. It was the Father 
who drove man from tile tree of life, — shall He not lead 
him back again? By His own interposition He evidences 
His design to do so; and for this condescension He shall 
receive honor from the wandering soul who has come home 



4 John vl, 44, 5 Horn . ii, 



Trine Immersion. 117 

again. Therefore;, baptize him in the name of the Father, 
says Jesus. 

The work of the Father is now done, having drawn the 
penitent to the Son. Behold now, sinner, yonr bleeding 
Lord, the great High Priest of God, who, by the eternal 
sacrifice of Himself, opened a fountain for sin by the 
shedding of His own blood; by which also He purchased 
eternal redemption for all who come to Him in love be- 
lieving. In honor to Him for His condescension, who 
bowed in Jordan, let the penitent one be baptized in the 
name of the Son. 

We notice, further, the relation existing between the 
two first powers in the Trinit3\ The teaching of the Scrip- 
tures is, Christ was a Lamb slain before the foundation of 
the world. This could only be prospectively in the mind 
of God. Thus far the Father consents to make the sacri- 
fice; but where is the body for the altar? To this the Son 
consents, with two distinct acts to be accomplished in the 
end, yet each bearing a separate but relative part in the 
work. 

Further, after God had instructed Moses what to do in 
order to obtain deliverance from bondage in Egypt, the 
consummation of it was, "When I see the blood," *^ the 
presence of the second power, "I will pass over your dwell- 
ings." N"otice : it took the presence of the second power in 
the Trinity to bring deliverance. God the Father led them, 
out of bondage, but the spiritual rock, Christ, supported 
them. "They did all eat of that same spiritual meat, and 
did all drink of that same spiritual rock, and that spirit- 
ual rock was Christ."^ The Lord God gave the three He- 
brew children the law to keep, but the Son of God was their 
companion in the furnace of fire. From this it will be 
seen that there are two powers jointly working, yet each 
has a part of its own to perform. 

That the Spirit should receive recognition in baptism 



« Ex. xii, 13. 7 1 Cor. x, 4. 



118 "Ammi— My People/' 

is conceded b}^ all who lay any claim to the rite. For some 
cause there seems to have been a common consent to this 
in word and in work. Nevertheless, not for what the Holy 
Spirit has done for the. sinner, but for what the promise 
says He will do. 

Notwithstanding the clearness in which revelation has 
communicated to us the mission of the Holy Ghost, there 
are very many erroneous views in regard to the office and 
work of the third part in the Trinity. We left the sinner 
at the feet of Jesus, where Mary of old found a place to 
feast upon eternal things. The Father presented the prodi- 
gal to the Son; the Son teaches him obedience. This was 
the consummate purpose of the Son of God coming into 
the world, — to teach the world obedience. By obeying and 
honoring the Son in the act of baptism, or birth of re- 
generation, the individual becomes a child of God, a new- 
born babe in the family of God. The office and work of 
the Spirit is to nourish this child. Jesus came to give light 
and life to the world ; the work of the Spirit is to sustain 
this life. "I am come that they might have life, and that 
more abundantly.''^ Again, "My words are spirit and they 
are life.''^ ' 

"It is expedient that I go away : if I go not away, the 
Comforter will not come ; but if I go away I will send the 
Comforter unto you; and when He shall come He will 
guide you into all truth. He shall not speak of Himself, 
but whatsoever He shall hear that shall He speak, and He 
shall show you things to come. He shall glorify Me, for 
He shall receive of Mine, and shall shew it unto you."^^ 
This is by Divine authority; the office and work of the 
Spirit is to teach the children of God the things that be- 
long to Christ and salvation. 

Again we observe, the Spirit could not come into this 
office until the work of the Father and the Son had been 
completed up to this point. Many are in error in regard 

8 John X, 10. 9 John vi, 63. i'>John xvi, 7. 



Trine Immersion. 119 

to the time when the Spirit enters upon His mission, ))e- 
lieving the Holy Spirit operates upon them in bringing 
them to conversion. Others accept the belief that the pres- 
ence and work of the Spirit was while Jesns was upon 
earth. 

The voice of inspiration is : "He that believeth on Me, 
out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this 
He spake of the Spirit which they that believed on Him 
should receive; for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, be- 
cause Jesus was not yet glorified. ) "^^ Our point is now 
sustained as to the time when the Spirit manifested His 
power in the salvation of sinners. 

Our Lord said unto Peter, "Feed my lambs;" but 
shortly after told him to wait until the Spirit should 
qualify him so to do. Paul's admonition to the elders was 
"to feed the flock over which the Holy Ghost had made 
them overseers." On the Day of Pentecost the Spirit came 
in His fullness of power, and made the same manifest in 
reproving the Jewish nation of sin, of righteousness, and 
of judgment. His presence and power has been the 
Guardian Angel of the Church ever since. The Church 
indwelt by the Holy Spirit is the representative body of 
Christ on earth; and the only proof that the Church can 
have of her faithfulness is the testimony of the Spirit. 
When once the Spirit refuses to testify in the behalf of the 
Church, all claim for her purity is ill-founded. 

The apostles respected the authority of the Holy Spirit : 
"For it seemed good unto the Holy Ghost, and to us, to 
lay no greater burden upon you."^^ "For the Spirit searches 
all things ; yea, the deep things of God."^^ The Eevelator 
says, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's-day." Here is a 
most marvelous revelation of the Spirit to St. John, and 
this was but the fulfilling of the prophecy of our Lord con- 
cerning the office of the Spirit: "And He will shew you 
things to come." 



" John vii, 38, 39. »2 Acts xv, 28. " 1 Cor. li, 10. 



130 "Ammi— My People/' 

When the Father and the Son had brought the house of 
Israel to Sinai, there was also the Spirit in His power. The 
Spirit was there in order to teach the people the power and 
meaning of the law. Further, the testimony of the apostle 
is^ "Holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy 
Ghost."^* As Sinai was the birthday of the Jewish Church, 
so as truly was Pentecost the birthday of the Christian 
Church. Hence the presence of the Spirit. The only con- 
ception the finite mind can have of the Spirit is in the 
manifestation of power; and this the Spirit evidences at 
every birth, natural and spiritual. But if the law of gen- 
eration be broken, the Spirit refuses to testify; which 
proves conclusively that His office is to bear witness to the 
truth. In answer to the claim which some make regarding 
the leading of the Spirit in opposition to the written Word, 
we need only quote the language of Jesus. He shall not 
take of his own, "but of Mine, and show it unto you."^^ 
We now feel safe in concluding our argument upon the 
separate office and work of the Holy Spirit. 

While the Scriptures sustain a Trinity in the Godhead, 
and each a separate work, they as plainly confirm a unity 
of purpose. And this can be easily comprehended without 
unifying their subsistencies. "He that abideth in the doc- 
trine of Christ has both the Father and the Son."^^ To 
abide in the doctrine of Christ is but to abide in the home 
of the Spirit. "No man can say that Jesus is the Christ 
but by the Holy Ghost." We have now sustained the propo- 
sition of a trinity of works, with a unity of design, in which 
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost 
unite to accomplish the salvation of the sinner. And hence 
nothing but a trinity of action in baptism can answer the 
demand of the commission — Trine Immersion. 

Our next reason for accepting Trine Immersion as 
Christian baptism is drawn from the manner in which 
Jesus passed through His baptism of suffering. "Then 



" 2 Peter i, 21. is John xvli, 14. " John li, 9. 



Trine Immersion. 121 

Cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, 
and saith unto His disciples, Sit here, while I go and pray 
yonder. And He took with Him Peter and the two sons 
of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. 
Then saith He unto them. My soul is exceeding sorrowful 
even unto death : tarry ye here/ and watch with Me. And 
He went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed, 
saying, My Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from 
me : nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt. And He 
Cometh unto the disciples and findeth them asleep, and 
saith unto Peter, What, could you not watch with me one 
hour ? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation : 
the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. He went 
away again the second time, and prayed, saying, My 
Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I 
drink it. Thy will be done. x\nd He came and found them 
asleep again : for their eyes were heavy. And he left them, 
and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying 
the same words."^^ 

In passing through this baptism of suffering, our Lord 
engaged in three acts, or a trinity oi action. The point 
we wish to make in connection with these Scriptures is, 
there must be of necessity some cause for, or meaning at- 
tached to, the three actions associated with this baptism. 

The life of Jesus was a life of intercession and prayer. 
There can be no doubt that the forty days spent in the 
wilderness, after His baptism in Jordan, were spent in 
communion with His Father, in fasting and prayer. Many 
were the prayers He offered while engaged in His mission 
of love. He pra3Td in the wilderness ; He prayed in the 
mountain and in the desert; He prayed upon the cross. 
But His prayer in the garden of Gethsemane was the 
consummation of all He had ever prayed for or asked His 
people to pray for. '^^ot My will be done, but Thine, 



"Matt, xxvi, 36-44; and Mark xiv, 33-42. 



122 "Ammi— My People/' 

God." "Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth 
as it is done in heaven." 

*^'Ts any afflicted, let him pray." Affliction gave birth to 
that prayer in the garden; it was the outpouring of a 
troubled and afflicted soul. The spotless soul of the Lamb 
of God was then sorrowful even unto death. The soul 
that knew no sin, but which was bearing the sin of the 
world, breathed that prayer to the Father of mercies. 
From the lips of innocence it was poured out before the 
throne of God, on the threshold of a conflict between our 
Lord and the hosts of earth and hell combined. It was at 
this time when the soul or mind bent to the will of an- 
other, and the body yielded to become a sacrifice upon the 
cross ; the time when the destiny of man hung upon the 
pivot of choice; the time when the flesh must be silent and 
submissive, while the spirit spoke freedom, if eternal life 
was to be our inheritance. Who can measure the depth of 
that hour when the Son of God was, as it were, halting be- 
tween duty and choice ! And shall we not all come to that 
point by and by? In the midst of this baptism of suffer- 
ing our Lord bowed three times. Is it not at such a time, 
also, when in baptism, the sinner enters the conflict be- 
tween the world, the flesh, and the devil? Is not this a 
time when the soul or mind is bent to the will of another, 
and the body of flesh or sinful nature is offered upon the 
altar of God's boundless love, — as dying unto sin, but as 
living unto God? If our Lord bowed thrice in opening 
the way, shall we not bow thrice when entering thereon? 
Could two things be more alike as to time, place, and man- 
ner? Will any individual presume to say that the one is 
not the type of the other? If so, then we affirm there is 
no typical teaching in revelation. None but the Infinite 
Mind could have devised a scene so harmonious through- 
out. IsoT can reason, logic, or sophistry ever destroy that 
harmony so long as the people of God live upon the earth. 
If theologians of our day could approximate, however re- 



Trine Immersion. 123 

inotely, a similar state of harmony, how ready they would 
be to stake their all upon it ! 

Our next argument in favor of Trine Immersion is 
drawn from the language of the Apostle Paul to the 
Ephesian brethren: "One Lord, one faith, and one 
baptism/' 

The force of this argument will be based upon what 
the apostle meant when using the above expression. Not 
until we arrive at the meaning of the language can we 
know what is declared. Language is the expression of 
thoughts in words or characters. Thoughts are the prod- 
uct of our desires. It then follows that the phrase, "One 
Lord, one faith, and one baptism,^' expresses the desire 
of Paul concerning the faith and practice of the congrega- 
tion at Ephesus. His desire Avas to teach his brethren that, 
as there was but one Lord, there could be but one faith; 
and one faith could not consistently practice but one 
baptism. 

How long it took the congregation at Ephesus to be- 
come divided upon the doctrine of baptism need not con- 
cern us. One thing is evident, had they been contending 
about the matter at the time of receiving the Epistle, they 
could have readily known the apostle's understanding of 
the ordinance. There should not only be a unity of prac- 
tice, but also of the mode or manner of that practice. No 
one can entertain the thought that there was a difference 
of opinion or practice among the apostles. In all their go- 
ing from city to city, from country to country, through the 
many nations, they went preaching the Gospel of the 
kingdom. In their many letters which have come down to 
us, not one instance is to be found where they differed upon 
this ordinance, though they did differ upon some other 
things, which fact is known to us. This of itself is evi- 
dence enough to put the considerate mind at rest upon 
this point. 

The logical conclusion is, they were all agreed as to 



124 "Ammi— My People/' 

the meaning of the words^ "One baptism." The word 
baptism is not an English, but a Greek word; which 
means when translated, dipping. The word dipping, 
according to the rules of grammar, is a participle-noun — 
meaning part verb and part noun; which besides means 
the name of the act, as well as denoting the action. ] do 
not believe there is a lexicographer, commentator, or lin- 
guist who has paid any attention to the word that does not 
admit the propriety of this solution of the word baptism. 
In this there can be no mistake ; it does not require science 
or scholarship to comprehend this thought. Dipping de- 
notes a repetition of action; as in the word walking the 
act as also the manner of the act are expressed. There are 
a number of words in the languages of similar import. 
Greek, bapto; English, dip. Greek, baptism; English, dip- 
ping. Bapto, the name of the act; baptism, the repetition 
of the act. No doubt the classic Greek varied somewhat 
from the Septuagint, from which the King James transla- 
tion was made; those who made that translation under- 
stood both. Thousands of Greek scholars, both ancient 
and modern, have testified to the correctness of this 
statement. 

In the face of this testimony we have this to say : The 
classic men of former times certainly were more united in 
their belief as to what the Scriptures meant in Greek, 
than the classic men of modern times are as to what the 
Scriptures mean in English. However, we are not con- 
cerned so much about the classic men, ancient or modern, 
as we are about the common people. The common people 
in the time of Christ seem to have understood Him better 
than the classic men. And it does appear that Heaven 
understood both the classic men and common people. If 
wisdom is to speak, now as well as then, the conclusion is 
that the Word of God was safer in the hands of the com- 
mon people than in the hands of the classical. The solu- 
tion of this whole problem, then, is, if we want substantial 



Trine Immersion. 135 

evidence as to what the Scriptures mean, we must go to 
humble, honest, understanding men — men who were honest 
enough to practice what their understanding taught them ; 
men at whose clear word the earth trembled, and the 
heavens voiced Amen. By their evidence kings were moved 
and prison walls were shaken, and iron gates opened of 
their own accord, — the evidence of unlettered and un- 
learned men ; the evidence of men and women who spurned 
the wisdom of this world, but who faltered not to bathe 
their testimony in their own blood. They may not have 
been classical men ; they may not have been scientific men ; 
but men they were with whom God Almighty felt safe to 
trust His Word, and its meaning as well. Empires have 
risen and fallen, nations and peoples have come and gone; 
yet over their slumbering and forgotten graves the evi- 
dence of the people of God still lives. Fire, persecution, 
and sword, have spent their wasted hatred; dungeons, 
prisons, and death have tried their hands to change the 
meaning of God's Word, "One Lord, one faith, and 
one baptism." "But as I live so shall My word live 
also, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." 

If, then, baptism means a repetition of action, at what 
limit shall the action be stayed? Unless there be some- 
thing definite upon this point we have no means of deter- 
mining. The word of itself implies no cessation of action. 
Without further instruction, we might go on indefinitely. 
However, we are not at a loss here, as some worldly wise 
men have claimed. There has never been a command given 
man to obey but the manner of obeying that command 
was embodied in it. We now quote the words which limit 
the action: '"Baptizing them in the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Here is the limit, 
given by the authority of Christ. 

Paul demanded of his brethren at Corinth that they 
follow him as he had followed Christ ; and at his life's end 
he declared that he had kept the faith of Jesus, saying. 



126 "Ammi— My People/' 

"I have fouglit a good fight ;, I have finished my couise, I 
have kept the faith/^ It is evident that Paul taught the 
Ephesian brethren one baptism in three acts, and all the 
scribes and Greeks and Gentiles failed utterly to subvert 
him or the meaning of his words. 

Our next argument is based upon the words of the 
Apostle John: "Pie is Antichrist that denieth the Father 
and the son/^^^ It was said by the woman of Samaria, "I 
know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ; when 
He comes He will tell us all things." ^^ It was the inspir- 
ing theme of the whole house of Israel, that when the Mes- 
siah should come Pie would comfort them. Their heart 
and soul awaited His coming and teaching. Their great 
prophet and leader, Moses, had so instructed them, saying : 
"Him shall ye hear." But when His words were spoken 
they perceived them not; when He longed to gather them 
that He might comfort them, they would not. And when 
they ha(i condemned Him, the voice of Peter echoed in 
their ears, "Ye have denied the Holy One and the Just, 
and desired a murderer to be granted unto you." 

In introducing our argument by quoting the above 
Scripture, our purpose has been twofold. First, to em- 
phasize the teaching of Christ; and secondly, we expect 
to present our argument in a negative form; that is, if it 
can be shown that Single Immersion is Antichrist, our po- 
sition is sustained. 

We will again quote the Scripture, in order more firmly 
to fix the mind of the reader upon it. "He is Antichrist 
that denieth the Father and the Son." 

It is not claimed that the apostle was contending, at 
the time he wrote these words, against single immersion, 
for the reason that no man can successfully prove that the 
practice then existed. On the contrary, it can be fully sus- 
tained that single immersion was not practiced until cen- 



18 1 John ii, 22. is John iv, 25. 



Trine Immersion. 127 

turies after that time. But this much can be truthfully 
said, it would be difficult indeed for any one to offer a 
more biting criticism upon single immersion in so few 
words. What device could the mind of man invent that 
would be more fitting as a rebuke ? For if, in the practice 
of single immersion, the Father and the Son are not denied, 
then, to the mind of the writer, words and acts have no 
meaning. 

To say to an individual, "I baptize you in the name of 
the Father," and make no effort to perform the act, is the 
worst form of denial. It forces the administrator into all 
but the worst form of sin ; it makes him tell a hypocritical 
untruth, which thing brought upon the Pharisees the most 
bitter denunciation of our Lord. It is hypocritical, be- 
cause the administrator knows he will not perform the 
act before he utters the words. This is drawing nigh unto 
God with our lips only : hence h^^pocritical. The admin- 
istrator tells an untruth when he says he will perform an 
act, and then refuses to do so; and this is not lying unto 
man alone, but unto God also. If this is not denying the 
Father, may mercy reach the man that does. Again the 
administrator says, "I baptize yon in the name of the Son/' 
an act he does not intend to perform. If Jesns Christ and 
holy men were not on one side of this picture, forbearance 
would have prompted the omission of the other. 

It was said of the house of Israel, by their pretense of 
keeping the law, they had robbed God; bnt ye Gentiles 
think it not enough to rob the Father, will you rob the 
Son also? Will you deny Him as did the scribes, and 
commit again the sin of Ananias? Hear, ye prophets of 
lies who divine for money, and ye priests, who labor for 
hire. Hear, ye doctors of divinity, who count the sin of 
presumption as naught by teaching for doctrine the com- 
mandments of men, and oppose Him whom God the Father 
hath sealed, and to whom He gave all power and wisdom, — 



128 "Ammi— My People/' 

will ye also be guilty of the blood of the prophets in deny- 
ing Him of whom they spoke? 

Let that artist who^ after having dipped his pen in the 
blood of the Christ crucified afresh, and still claims inno- 
cence, complete the picture. Behold the spirit of Anti- 
christ when the Father and Son have been denied! 

We now quote the first part of the verse in which the 
preceding text is found : "Who is a liar but he that denieth 
that Jesus is the Christ ?^^ Need any further sentence be 
pronounced upon the practice of Single Immersion? He 
is a liar deep and broad who, under pretense of leading the 
people over Jordan, denies Him whom God the Father 
hath sealed; "Him in whom dwelleth the fullness of the 
Godhead bodily;" "Who only hath immortality, dwelling 
in that light which no man hath seen or can see." This 
kind of lying, methinks, would all but cause Satan to 
blush; for as yet he has not denied our Lord, but testified 
when Jesus was upon earth, "We know whom Thou art, 
the Holy One; art Thou come to torment us before our 
tim6?" Here is where the children and the father of un- 
truth meet. 

Further, we read in the same chapter, twenty-fourth 
verse, "Let that therefore abide in you which ye have 
heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard 
from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall con- 
tinue in the Father and the Son." 

Of the many writers whose names the Scriptures bear, 
none refer so frequently to the beginning as the Apostle 
John. Matthew's Gospel has been called the Gospel of the 
Kingdom, from the number of parables it contains relating 
to the kingdom of God. John's Gospel is the kingdom in 
its beauty, bathed in love. How profoundly he begins his 
record: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word 
was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in 
the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; 



Trine Immersion. 129 

and without Him was not anything made that was made. 
In Him-w^as life ; and the life was the light of men. . . . 
That was the true light, which lighteth every man that 
cometh into the world. ... As many as received 
Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God.*' 
This is what the fathers have heard from the beginning; 
what holy men of old heard from the beginning; what all 
of God's people have heard from the beginning, "And he 
that hath ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith 
unto the Churches." What then have we heard? 

1. That the Father and Son were companions in 
creation. 

2. Nothing was made without the consent of the Son. 

3. They were one. in mind and purpose. 

4. The Son is the light and life of the world. 

5. As many as believe and obey Him, to them He will 
give eternal life. 

6. This Son who is the light and life of the world was 
made flesh, and dwelt among us. 

If these things are not to abide, then there is no abid- 
ing place. What, then, is contained in denying the Father 
and the Son? Answer: Everything that is required to 
make man a son of God. Therefore, Single Immersion is 
not sustained by the Scriptures. 

The reader's attention is called to a special point in the 
contest, viz. : The contention is waged against Single Im- 
mersion only; not as to how the act is performed. That 
point will be considered in a separate paper. The parties 
in this controversy are agreed that Christian baptism con- 
sists in immersion. If, then, Single Immersion is Anti- 
christ, Trine Immersion is sustained. 

How unspeakably happy is that soul, when the Father 

and the Son abide there ! "If any man keep My words. My 

Father will love him, and we will come and make Our 

abode with him." Then it can be truly said, "All things 

9 



130 ''Ammi— My People/' " 

are yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." With 
this blessed companionship, there are no storms that can 
not be calmed; there are no seas that can not be stilled; 
-there are no trials that can not be borne; there are no 
temptations that can not be overcome; there are no sor- 
rows that can not be endured. 

"And when life's rugged path is trod, 
That soul shall find a home with God." 



bowinct in baptism. 

Our first argument is based upon the principle that 
the law of nature and the law of grace are one law; 
and whatever is unnatural in nature — unless otherwise 
provided for — is unspiritual in grace. For proof we turn 
to the parables used by our Lord in teaching the Gospel 
to the world as it met Him. The uniformity that exists 
throughout the thirty-eight parables shows a most beautiful 
harmony existing betw^een the natural and the spiritual 
sides of the two kingdoms. 

It is a fact well understood in all branches of knowl- 
edge, that we build largely upon what we have. We com- 
pare what we have with that which we desire. Thus we 
find a relation between the known and the unknown, the 
real and the imaginary. The basis of all object teaching 
is to endeavor to instruct the pupil in such a manner that 
the thing intended and the object from which the intent is 
drawn cast the same shadow upon the mirror of the mind. 
There can be no more successful method of teaching than 
this. And this has been Heaven's way since revelation 
began. Nevertheless man has been very slow to perceive it. 

It was the pattern upon the mount that impressed upon 
the mind of Moses the Tabernacle in the wilderness. It 
was the obedience which the sheaves, with the sun, moon, 
and stars, paid little Joseph in his dream that prefigured 
his glory in Egypt. It was this picture shown to his 
brethren that moved them to jealousy. Nor were they mis- 
taken as to its meaning. It is the bow in the cloud that 
teaches the world the endless love of God. How like was 
the serpent that was reared in the camp of Israel to Him 
whom they nailed to the cross ! 

131 



132 , "Ammi— My People." 

These are some of the things the Divine Mind has used 
to convey the thing intended. And so near in likeness 
have they been, that they have not failed to instruct the 
teachable mind in all generations. Nature's lessons are 
always true. The Apostle Paul was not ignorant of this 
fact ; as evidence read his words to the Church at Corinth : 
"Doth not even nature itself teach you ?"^ Should Mother 
Nature be allowed to speak, her voice would give no un- 
certain sound as to the act of bowing in baptism being 
connected with a birth. Having given to the world the 
first birth should entitle her to the right to be heard now. 
Purthermore, she has not changed in regard to the law by 
which she has been governed throughout the passing years 
of time; and her law is that which corresponds with the 
bowing posture in baptism, face downward. If nature 
teaches us so many important lessons in other things, why 
not hear her voice upon this matter ? Nothing could more 
harmonize with law in either kingdom. And this corre- 
sponds with the teaching of Jesus. 

Our next argument in favor of bowing in baptism is 
drawn from the words of Paul : "We are buried with Him 
in baptism, in the likeness of His death."^ The teaching 
of the apostle is that baptism is a burial. The thought is 
complete; there can be no mistake upon that point. He 
then proceeds to instruct us as to what that burial is like : 
"In the likeness of His death.'' This thought is also com- 
plete. The apostle does not say the burial in baptism, is 
like the burial of Christ; by no means. He sa3^s nothing 
whatever about the burial of Christ in this connection. It 
is very little short of presumption to draw conclusions from 
that which has not been spoken. What the apostle does 
testify to, is seen in the expression: "We are buried in 
baptism in the likeness of Christ's death,'^^ or dying. The 
manner in which Christ died is one thing, and the manner 



1 1 Cor. xl, 14. 2 ool. li, 12. 3 Rom. vi, 4, o. 



Bowing in Baptism. 133 

in which He was buried is quite another thing. Neither 
are they related circumstances. 

Prophets have spoken volumes concerning Christ's 
death. Types have been used to foreshadow it. The 
earth quaked and the rocks were rent because of it; 
the sun refused to shine upon it; the Father in 
heaven withdrew His presence from it. But of 
His burial we have few words : "He was laid in 
Joseph's new tomb." The only force that can be con- 
sistently gathered from the language is that the last and 
closing act in His death was, "He bowed His head, and 
gave up the Ghost." Let us not lose sight of the meaning 
of this language. The point and stress of what Paul says 
lies in the act of bowing. Moreover, there are positive 
grounds for resting our claim here. What can be gathered 
from feet-washing, if the emphasis is not to be placed upon 
the act as an act of humility? And who will say that 
this was not one of the leading features in the example of 
our Lord ? 

It is the act of hreahing the bread of communion that 
answers to the broken body of our Lord. Should the bread 
be eaten without being broken, there would be no agree- 
ment between the type and the antitype. So also with the 
cup of blessing: it is the act of drinking that defines its 
meaning. "Except ye eat My flesh, and drink My blood, 
ye have no life in you." 

The act of eating and the act of drinking claim em- 
phasis in the language. "For as oft as ye do these things 
ye show forth the Lord's death till He come." Further, 
the act upon the cross is shown by the Eevelator to have a 
most profound meaning. The Lamb of God is here rep- 
resented as treading the wine-press of God alone, drinking 
the bitter cup to the dregs. It was this act from which 
Jesus prayed for salvation — an act from which His right- 
eous soul recoiled. 



134 "Ammi— My People/' 

And who can picture the pangs of that act and hour, 
in which the sins of a wicked and ungodly world pressed 
upon the innocent soul of the Son of David? Alas! it is 
enough, when even nature cries out for vengeance; and 
He bows His head in humble, submissive obedience to the 
pangs which He suffered. And shall not the sin-burdened 
soul, — that lonely, forsaken soul, who has cast away the 
world, and has been cast away by the world, standing alone 
as did his Lord on the brink of the Jordan of death, ready 
to, offer His body of flesh a sacrifice unto death, a fitting 
subject for burial in a watery grave, — shall he not now, as 
did his Lord, how likewise as a sign of willing submission 
in fellowship with his Lord's suffering, by being made con- 
formable unto his death, that he may attain unto the resur- 
rection of the dead ? There is no t3'pe in the plan of salva- 
tion more harmonious than that which is here illustrated. 
"0 the depth of both the wisdom and knowledge of God." 

Our third argument to prove the action in baptism is 
drawn from the language describing the manner in which 
Christ underwent His baptism of suffering. "And He 
went a little further, and fell on His face and prayed ; and 
He left them, and went away and prayed the third time."* 
"And He went forward a little, and fell on the ground and 
prayed."^ "And He was withdrawn from them about a 
stone's cast, and He kneeled and prayed."^ The united tes- 
timony of the three inspired writers is, that the act of our 
Lord in this baptism was a forward one. Further in con- 
nection with this forward action is also the act of kneeling ; 
bringing together a combination of actions so natural and 
harmonious that, to the teachable mind, it can not fail to 
carry conviction because of the unison in natural law. 
When nature and grace echo the same voice, we have the 
best evidence that we are correct. The Word of God is 
Spirit, and it is truth; but no amouat of reasoning can 
bring harmony out of untruth. 



4 Matt, xxvl, 39. 5 Mark xiv, 35. ^ Luke xxil, 41. 



Bowing in Baptism. „ 135 

Again, the testimony of holy men is in keeping with 
the act of bowing in prayer, x^braham bowed himself ; 
Jacob, Joseph, and Daniel bowed themselves. "The king 
and all that were present bowed themselves and wor- 
shiped."^ "And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and 
queens shall be thy nursing mothers ; they shall bow down 
with their faces toward the earth." ^ How beautiful are 
the words of the psalmist, "0 come, let us worship ; let us 
bow down ; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker !"^ 

Who can but admire the act of the first martyr, the man 
Stephen, when, kneeling down, he prayed for his enemies ? 
What to the people of God is more touching than the part- 
ing of Paul and his brethren, when they all kneeled down 
and prayed with him, giving him the kiss of fellowship 
while they wept? Thus we have the evidence of 'God's 
people, in all ages, bowing themselves when worshiping 
the God of heaven. 

Finall}^, we are taught that the time will come "when 
every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess."^*^ 
Bowing is the only consistent manner of confirming an 
<^Ri that is in accord with propriety and good order. En- 
lightened people, even in the civil pursuits of life, would 
rebel at the idea of a backward- action of confirming an 
oath. 

Our fourth argument is drawn from the fact that 
wicked men and the backward action are associated to- 
gether in the Scriptures. Eli fell backward and broke his 
neck, because of remorse from sin. The wicked men who 
came to take Jesus while in the garden of Gethsemane, 
went backward and fell to the ground. Paul, speaking of 
certain wicked men, says : "Let their eyes be darkened that 
they may not see; and bow down their backs always."^^ 
"But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ears, but 
walked in the counsels and imaginations of their evil 
hearts, and went backward and not forward."^^ 



7 2 Chron. xxlx, 29. 8 isa. xllx, 23. 9 Psalm xcv, 6. 

10 Phil, ii, 10. 11 Rom. xi, 10. 12 Jer. vil, 24. 



136 "Ammi— My People/' 

In all courts of justice, the merit of the case is deter- 
mined upon the evidence ; not of one side, but of both. In 
like manner, we now rest the case, and await without un- 
easiness the decision. 

In concluding this subject, we will yet add: the only 
argument we have ever heard in defense of the backward 
action in baptism was dra^vn from Eomans vi, 4 : "Buried 
with him in baptism." Associating the custom of burying 
the dead with the words of the apostle, the advocates of sin- 
gle immersion draw the conclusion for their practice, for- 
getting that it is not the burial of Christ that baptism is 
likened unto, but His death, wherein he bowed his head. 



FEET-WASHING AS AN OEDINANCE IN THE 
CHURCH OF GOD. 

We now arrive at a subject upon which there is not 
only a contention about the manner of its observance, but 
whether it should be observed at all. A large majority of 
professors contend that there is no direct command for 
the perpetuation of the practice as a Church ordinance. 
The reason for this denial is, that the language describing 
the act does not imply a command. And thus the practice 
is almost entirely unobserved. 

Our attention is first called to the language our Lord 
used when introducing the ordinance. It is of the utmost 
importance that we should know the facts in the case; for 
if it be not an established ordinance in the household of 
faith to be practiced by the children of God, then those 
who advocate its observance are adding to the prophecy of 
the Book; and to them "shall be added the plagues which 
are written therein." But if it be an ordinance in the 
house of God, to be observed by all the faithful in Christ 
Jesus, then from those who have cast it aside, and have 
taken it away from the Book of this prophec}^, shall be 
taken their part "out of the Holy City." It therefore be- 
comes of vital importance that we should know what is 
our duty in order to be in harmony with revelation. 

Upon this point a few words of explanation can not be 
deemed out of place. In dealing with the Word of God, 
we are dealing with God, who, we are taught, can not be 
mocked. It is greatly feared that the nations are prone to 
consider this fact not seriously enough. It is yet to be 
proven if there be a sin so great as the sin of presumption. 
The psalmist calls it the "great transgression." To pre- 

137 



138 "Ammi— My People/' 

Slime to add to God's Word^ or to take therefrom, is to 
charge God with imperfection; or, in other words, to as- 
sume to be His counselor. Of this the apostle says : "Who 
hath known the mind of the Lord or who hath been Ptis 
counselor."^ Again, "Shall the thing formed say nnto Him 
who formed it. Why hast thon made me thus?"^ Consid- 
ering the question from this standpoint, it behooves ns to 
ascertain beyond a doubt the correct solution of the matter 
in question. Believing always that the Scriptures are their 
OAvn interpreter, and that the language in which they are 
written conveys their intended meaning so plainly that 
he who "runs may read," and in reading, understand what 
the will of the Lord is. What, then, shall the reader un- 
derstand by the words, "If I then your Lord and Master 
have washed your feet, ye ought also to wash one another's 
feet."^ The contention is whether this language conveys 
the force of a command. The people of God affirm that it 
does, and so practice the ordinance in order to be obedient 
unto Him who commanded it. That Jesus is Lord and 
Master is as true as He is a Savior; and we can not accept 
Him as our Savior unless we at the same time acknowledge 
Him to be Master. This, then, forever puts at rest the 
position which we occupy in relation to Him. We are 
servants. No more, and no less. 

He who knew man, and needed that none should tes- 
tify to Him of man, knew also that the life of a servant 
would not appeal to an ambitious man as the most desir- 
able thing in the world ; hence He proceeds to illustrate the 
beautiful equality that exists between Him and His serv- 
ants. "The disciple is not above his master, nor the serv- 
ant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he 
be as his master, and the servant as his lord."* If this is 
not enough to reach man and bring him to the feet of his 
Lord, and there honor and adore his Lord as a true servant, 
he is beyond the reach of love. Man, as man, has nothing 



Rom. xi, 34. 2 Rom. ix, 20. 3 John xi, 14. * Matt, x, 24= 



Feet-Washixg as A2T Ordinance. 139 

to offer in comparison with this. The borderland between 
master and servant^ from a hnman standpoint^ is ever 
widening, because of man's insatiate greed for exaltation. 

Herein is one of the most beautiful and loving charac- 
teristics of Jesus Christ as exemplified in His life among 
men. The perfection of His law of life was not fulfilled 
in making all men equal with men; but the consummate 
end was to make men equal with God. Though a servant, 
he is also a teacher, and the glorious lesson is to teach man- 
kind how to serve. Humility cometh before honor, and 
abasement before exaltation; and this is the supreme ex- 
ample of the Son of God. Character is built upon prin- 
ciple, and principle is heaven; not until we make this 
thought our guide in life will we be able to discern the 
way of life. The principle of feet-washing was established 
by character, and by the noblest character the world has 
any account of. This of itself should make it imperative as 
a duty upon us as servants. 

There remains yet to be stated the greatest thing that 
exists between master and servant; and that is, the same 
spirit must control both. iSTot until this obtains can there 
be any true servant or true service. And this is true in 
any sense in which it may be applied. iSTot until the shep- 
herd has educated the mind of his dog to act in harmony 
with his own, will the dog be of any real service to him; 
as also says the Scriptures, "Let this mind be in you as 
it was also in Christ Jesus." Xow, the mind of Jesus was 
to wash the feet of His disciples, and in no other way 
could that be demonstrated save by performing the act. 
Will any one undertake to be a servant of Jesus unless he 
is willing by the same act to show to the world that he 
has the mind of his Master? Or, in other words, can we 
have the mind of Jesus and at the same time refuse to do 
the acts of Jesus? We think not. If this position be not 
incontrovertible there is no means by which we can estab- 
lish principle, and lax policy stands supreme; which has 



140 "Ammi— My People." 

proven the downfall of kingdoms, empires, States, and 
Churches. 

There can be nothing short of policy that prompts in- 
dividuals to cavil about the words, "Ye ought to wash one 
another^s feet," as not being a plain as well as a positive 
command. Custom is a law of such force that policy has 
found it difficult to change it. It is to be doubted if there 
be a law so hard to break as the law of custom. That the 
use of the word "ought" in the connection in which we 
find it, was the customary way of using the word, the 
Scriptures give evidence in the following quotations. 
"What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended 
Thee, that Thou hast brought on me and my kingdom 
this great sin? Thou hast done deeds that ought not to be 
done."^ To get at the stress of this language, we must 
find out what Abraham had done. The fact is, he had 
told the untruth to the king of Gera concerning the rela- 
tion between him and his wife Sarah; which caused God 
to intervene in behalf of the king and Sarah. By the act 
of Abraham a door was opened to bring disgrace upon both 
king and nation. Had not the king a right to command 
Abraham not to do such thing? Has not any advocate. of 
purity a moral as well as a legal right to command that 
such thing ought not to be done? A religion that would 
allovv^ its advocates to say "No" to this proposition might 
well possess sufficient elasticity to stretch over feet-washing. 

We are not concerned as to the merits or demerits of 
the king's action in the matter. Suffice it to say the use 
of the word ought is to our purpose. The force of the ex- 
pression is, the king commanded Abraham not to tell the 
untruth, and used* the word ought to emphasize it. "And 
not only idlers, but busybodies and tattlers, speaking things 
they ought not."^ (Gr., speaking improper things.) Can 
it be said with any degree of consistency that the apostle 
did not command the brethren to abstain from being tat- 



5 Gen. XX, a ^ i Tim. v, 13. 



Feet-Washing as an Ordinance. 141 

tiers and idlers, busybodies who speak improper things 
they ought not?" "If any man among you seemeth to 
be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, that man's relig- 
ion is vain.""^ "If any offend not in word, the same is a 
perfect man, . . . and the tongue is a fire, a world of 
iniquity, so is the tongue among our members, that it de- 
i^ieth the whole body, and setteth on fi.re the course of na- 
ture, and it is set on fire of hell." "My brethren, these 
things ought not so to be." Can any one who makes the 
weakest pretensions to serving his Master say there is no 
command in this language ? A thing that would set nature 
on fire, and organize a veritable hell on earth, — has not 
the Church experienced the truth of these words time and 
again? It then follows that those who contend that there 
is no command in the language referred to, have no con- 
ception of the Christian religion; and such have no right 
to engage in feet-washing as a Church ordinance. They, 
like Judas of old, would be the more filthy from the wash- 
ing. "So ought men to love their wives as their own 
bodies."^ (Grr., husban-ds are obliged to love their wives.) 
The meaning of this language is, the man of God is 
obliged to do what he ought to do, and he ought to do that 
which his obligations demand. l!^o man can be a Christian 
and do less. 

We now turn again to the language of Jesus, — "Woe 
unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay 
tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the 
weightier matters of the law, judgment, merc}^, and faith : 
these ought you to have done, and not to leave the other 
undone."^ (Gr., these are binding on you to do, and the 
other not omit.) Jesus being the author of both quota- 
tions, places a like emphasis upon each. If one conve3^s a 
command so likewise does the other. Ought, in this quo- 
tation, is translated binding in the Greek, and is equiva- 



■ James m, 2-10. s Eph. v, 28. 9 Matt, xxm, 23 



142 "Ammi— My People/' 

lent to a command. By establishing this, our position is 
sustained. 

1. The Jews were commanded to obey the law. 

2. That law was founded upon judgment, mercy, and 
faith. 

3. Without judgment, mercy, and faith, that law was, 
to all intents and purposes dead. ^ 

4. For them to keep the ritualism of the law, without 
the virtue of that law, made them hypocrites. 

(1) Corollary: Blind leading the blind; because they 
had broken the binding ought that was commanded them 
to keep. 

(2) Corollary: Because the ow^/i^ that bound them to 
keep the command was broken. 

(3) Corollary: They became hypocrites by breaking 
the command that ought to have bound them. 

These self-evident truths, or consequent results, when 
transposed, convey the same meaning; and the law of lan- 
guage is, when two or more words are transposed and their 
meaning retained, those words are of like meaning, or 
synonymous. We turn again to the words of Jesus : "If I 
then, your Lord and Master have washed your feet, ye also 
ought to wash one another's feet." (G-r., bound to wash 
the feet of one another.) The conclusion is, they were 
bound to wash one another's feet because Jesus had said 
they ought to do so ; and they ought so to do because Jesus 
had made it binding upon them. And so it is fully sus- 
tained that we '^ught to obey God rather than man.*' 
Feet-washing is therefore a command by the authority of 
Jesus, an ordinance to be perpetuated in His Church until 
He comes again. Love is the only tie that binds God to 
man and man to God; and since our Lord has said that 
the test of this love lies in keeping His commandments, 
need we any further proof of our fidelity to Him ? Whilst 
it is not the object of Jesus or His people to force religious 
men to wash feet. He and they reserve the right to say. 



Feet-Washing as an Ordinance. 143 

^'Why call ye me Lord, and do not the things that I 
sayT^^ 

Our second argument is drawn from the language of 
Christ to Peter: "If I wash you not, thou hast no part 
with Me." Which is to saj, If I am not permitted to 
wash your feet, you can not be one of My disciples. There 
is no more importance attached to any ordinance in the 
whole economy of grace than this. "Except a man be born 
again, he can not see the kingdom of God." "Without 
faith, it is impossible to please God." "Except ye eat My 
flesh, and drink My blood, ye have no life in you." 

Jesus being the authority for all the foregoing quota- 
tions, can we act consistently and place so much stress 
upon one, and so little upon the other? If, by the au- 
thority of the Son of God, salvation depends upon one, by 
the same authority it embraces them all; and never has it 
been, and never will it be, more forcibly taught than by 
the Lord Himself in His answer to Peter. And this of 
itself is enough to forever bind the people of God to ob- 
serve the ordinance in the house of God as a means of sal- 
vation. 

Peter was not able to discern the meaning contained in 
the act of his Lord stooping down and washing his feet; 
and this his Lord knew quite well. Hence the words, 
"What I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know 
hereafter ;"^^ thus teaching Peter, and the world as well, 
that, although we may not be able to discern the intent of 
a command, it is enough for the servant to be obedient to 
his Lord. For he says to us, as He did to Peter, "Thou 
shalt know hereafter." So after he had taken His gar- 
ments and sat down again, he said unto them : "Know you 
what I have done unto you? . . . Yerily, verily, I 
say unto you. The servant is not greater than his Lord, 

neither is He that is sent greater than Him that sent 
Him."^2 



10 Luke vi, 46. " John xni, 7. 12 John xiii, 16. 



144 "Ammi— My People/' 

Here are two things that are ever present, and act as 
an everlasting governor over the lives of men, an infallible 
scale in which can be tested the worth of onr religion by 
which we shall be able unerringly to tell whether we shall 
have a part with our Lord or not. The life of the Ee- 
deemer was a life of sacrijB.ce^ a sacrifice of self; a life of 
humble obedience to every demand for the good of the 
human family. And this He demonstrated in every act and 
word. And in no other way, according to the wisdom of 
God, could this fact be taught as forcibly as in the act of 
feet-washing; since it has pleased God to make known His 
wisdom unto us through His Son. 

The Arst of the two things is, "The servant is not 
greater than his Lord.^^ If the Master and Teacher could 
thus humble Himself, shall not the servant do likewise? 
But how shall the servant show his humility? How shall 
he show that he does not feel himself above his Lord ? Ah ! 
we have at last arrived at the test, a test of doing ; the test 
that exemplified the power of the Son of God. Let the 
servant now show that he is indeed not above his Master 
by humbling himself in washing the feet of the disciples 
of Jesus ; and in this way only can he prove to his Master, 
his brethren, and the world that he is not wanting in obe- 
dience when the time comes that he is weighed in the scale 
of the Word of God. 

And herein is the eternal wisdom of God brought so 
near to us that we are able to discern its meaning. When 
He desires to cleanse us b}^ purifying the inward man. 
He s3^mbolizes the act by washing the outward with water ; 
thus teaching us the unseen through the things that are 
seen. When He desires an evidence of that cleansing, and 
a willingness on our part to keep clean, as also an evi- 
dence of humble submision to our Lord, He kindly asks us 
to wash one another's feet, — again showing us the unseen 
through the things that are seen. 

Again, when He wants to teach us the life-giving power 
of His Word, which was made of flesh, that sustains the 



Feet-Washing as an Ordinance. 145 

spiritual man, He does this by asking us to eat and drink 
the emblems which represent His broken body and shed 
blood ; .lastly, but not least, teaching us, the third time, the 
power of the unseen through the things that are seen. The 
second thing that He designs to teach us in this ordinance 
of feet-washing is, "He that is sent is riot greater than He 
that sent Him f^^ thus ever putting us upon our guard, lest 
we should forget that we are only scervants, and it is 
enough if we thus be as our Lord. This is what they should 
know hereafter, and by knowing these things, they should 
be happy if they would do them. 

Our third argument in favor of feet-washing is drawn 
from the words of Jesus — "and ye are clean, but not all."^* 
To the careful student of the Scriptures these words con- 
vey more than they express. They linger upon our minds ; 
we can not rid ourselves of them ; they force us, as it were, 
to ask the question. Why were they not all clean? Had 
they not all been washed? Yes, the narrative assures us 
that, after Jesus had washed their feet, and was set down 
again, He said unto them, "Ye are not all clean;" which" 
He could not have said unless their feet had all been 
washed ; thus settling the matter, beyond the posibility of a 
doubt, that the design in the washing of their feet was not 
for a literal cleansing, as our friends — or rather our ene- 
mies — would have us believe. 

If we set ourselves to thinking for a moment, we shall 
readily discover that Jesus did not come to do for man that 
which man could do for himself. Had He done so, it would 
have been robbing man of his opportunity. This is not 
the mission of a Savior. The object of a Savior is to help 
those who can not help themselves ; to do for others what 
they can not do for themselves. This is most beautifully 
demonstrated in the life of the Son of God. Our ques- 
tion remains unanswered as yet, and we are forced to 
answer at another time the proposition as to why the dis- 



13 John xui, 16. i* John xm, 10. 

10 



146 ^'Ammi— My People/' 

ciples were not all clean. Was there something that water 
could not wash a,way? Can it be that, while the outward 
may be cleansed, the inward may remain polluted and 
guilty? Yea, verily. And this is the mask behind which 
hj^ocrites and designing men in all ages have taken refuge, 
forgetting that, while they may be for a time unknown 
to man, they can not hide from God nor the searching of 
His Spirit. Though the betrayer's feet were washed, yet 
his hands, heart, and soul were guilty of one of the most 
heinous crimes in the catalogue of sins, — the betrayal of 
innocence. In the eyes of the apostles, Judas was seem- 
ingly clean; but to the penetrating eye of his Master he 
was in the depth of iniquity: "For He knew who should 
betray Him.'' To the teachable mind it must be apparent 
that this washing of the feet by our Lord contained within 
itself a deeper as well as a higher purpose. But before 
we attempt to define what that purpose was, there is an- 
other thought which demands our attention. 

There are two points sustained by the preceding con- 
clusion: First, the design was not to the end that the 
feet might be cleansed ; and, second, for this reason it was 
not, nor could it be, an ancient custom that we hear men 
caviling so much about. !N'othing but willful blindness can 
keep any one from observing the force of our Lord's words 
upon this point. If, then, feet-washing is not for a literal 
cleansing, it must inevitably follow that the intent and 
purpose is for a spiritual cleansing. If its corelative bap- 
tism answers for a good conscience, it must follow that 
feet-washing answers for the same. In both, the outward 
application of water to the body is a type, or symbol, of 
the inward cleansing of the soul, or mind, since, in the 
economy of grace, it has pleased the Divine Mind that 
there can be no means of reaching the spiritual part of 
man without first symbolizing the design through the 
medium of the natural. From this standpoint — and there 
can be no other — the washing with water in baptism, or 



Feet-Washing as an Ordinance. 147 

otherwise, becomes the most forcible means for teaching 
the human mind the spiritual^ invisible application of the 
blood of Jesus to the soul. 

By the authority of Jesus we have the most warranted 
right for thus associating the ordinance of feet-washing 
with baptism. In His answer to Peter, when requesting 
to have His hands and His head washed, He says, "He 
that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is 
clean every whit." Jesus had taught no other washing 
but the washing of regeneration; hence there could be no 
reference to any other washing; for while He obeyed the 
law, He did not teach the ritualism of the law. 

Water has a cleansing power, and this fact is easily 
grasped by man through the use he has been taught to make 
of it from infancy. Thus the Lord and Master conde- 
scends to our level, using such means as is common among 
us in order that He may the more easily reach us, and our 
understanding also. 

While we behold the simplicity of God, let us also 
adore His humility. Our Heavenly Father has never un- 
dertaken to teach man a principle of Divinity without 
using the tangible things of humanity. When He mani- 
fested His power to Moses the shepherd. He used the burn- 
ing bush. W^hen He undertook to demonstrate His supe- 
riority over the gods of Egypt, He accomplished that end 
through the aid of material things, — Moses' staff, water 
turned to blood, locusts, flies, cattle, and lastly the blood 
of the lamb ; then the sea, cloud, pillar of Are, Sinai burn- 
ing and trembling, smoke, thundering .and lightning. Each 
had their meaning and their effect; nor was anything done 
for naught. Under the Gospel comes the Son of God, 
taking upon Himself flesh and blood in order that He 
might the more easily reach us, and we Him. If we en- 
deavor to keep the thought before us that, without the use 
of natural means, God could not reach us, we can the 



148 "Ammi— My People/' 

more readily comprehend His designs and the meaning of 
what He has commanded us to do. 

This is the design of feet-washing, and the efficacy at- 
tached thereto, that man might see in it the potency of 
Christ's cleansing blood. Aside from this, feet- washing 
has no power or meaning, nor have any of the ordinances 
force when separated from it. 

It is worthy of our notice that, in all the means made 
use of in order to redeem us, simplicity abounds. And 
here is where many wise men, many high men in this 
world's calling, have failed, like Naaman of old. Naaman 
exalted, refused to dip himself in Jordan; Naaman 
humbled, becomes healed. Let the wise men hear ; let the 
mighty men and the exalted men hear; let all the nations 
hear, that "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world 
to confound the wise ; and God hath chosen the weak things 
of the world to confound the things which are mighty ; and 
base things of the world, and things that are despised, hath 
God chosen, yea^ and things that are not, to bring to 
naught things that are : that no flesh should glory in His 
presence.''^^ 

Do we now better understand the use and design of 
feet-washing ? Men reject it because of the weakness they 
think they see in it; "but the weakness of God is stronger 
than men." So, in order to draw a mask over their false 
pride, men have vainly endeavored to make the people of 
God believe it is no command; which thing carries with 
it the condemning sin of unbelief. For these reasons, feet- 
washing becomes a command: First, because of the au- 
thority of Him who ordained it; second, because of the 
virtue contained in it; third, because of the promise of 
the happiness connected with it. That it is a command 
by the highest authority that a command can have, is all 
we claim; and having established that claim, we leave its 
opposers to take further counsel with God. 



151 Cor. 1,27-29 



Feet-Washing as an Ordinance. 149 

Our fourth argument in support of feet-washing is 
drawn from the words, "If ye know these things, happy 
are you if ye do them." The ultimate end of the Scrip- 
tures is to malie mankind happy, that, by and by, when 
this natural world and natural things shall run their 
course, we may have "a building of God, a house not made 
with hands eternal in the heavens,"^^ and dwell in a city 
"that hath foundations whose maker and builder is God."^'^ 
And may we not, even here, be happy? We can indeed; 
and it is not only our privilege, but our duty, to be happy, 
and to strive with all our power to make others happy also. 
The reason why so many are not happy lies in the wrong 
conception of what constitutes happiness. We strive to 
make ourselves believe we are happy in sinning; in grati- 
fying our fleshly craving; in our intemperate indulgence 
in whatever we have cultivated a taste for, — ^this is, in a 
large degree, the sum-total of our estimate of happiness. 
Now, the fact is, nothing can be further from the truth 
than this. Happiness consists in freedom, being free ; and 
no individual can be free so long as he is a slave to his own 
passions. 

The voice of wisdom tells us, in words which can not 
be mistaken, that so long as we live in that condition we 
are dead, — simply dead. And not only dead to happiness, 
but dead to everjrthing that tends to make us happy ; even 
dead to our true selves. "For to be carnally minded is 
death;" and the opposite of this is: "To be spiritually 
minded is life and peace." And this is the beautiful and 
impressive lesson of the ordinance of feet-washing as 
taught by Jesus. When two principles are in bitter con- 
flict for the mastery, each finds the greatest repose in be- 
ing the wider separated. So likewise in the conflict with 
self-denial and self-undenied, — the mind finds sweetest 
repose in an act of humility ; and this opportunity is found 
in the washing of the feet of the saints. Exaltation and 



« 2 Oor. V, 1. " Het). xl, 10. 



160 "Ammi— My People/' 

humility are eternal opposites, standing at antipodes, 
bounded only by the farthest extremes. How fitting it was' 
for Him whose life was the essence of humility to crown 
its closing scenes with an act so in harmony with His 
words ! 

Onr fifth argument is drawn from the language of 
Paul, "Let not a widow be taken into the number under 
threescore years; . . . well reported of for good 
works ; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged 
strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have 
relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every 
good work."^^ 

The first point is, feet-washing is here classed with 
good works, which are Christian graces that fit individuals 
for engaging in that ordinance. The next point is, the 
nature and manner of Paul's demand places the washing 
of the saints' feet in the Church as an ordinance observed 
by it ; for it would have been morally impossible for a sis- 
ter to have washed the feet of the saints unless the saints 
were accustomed to feet-washing. Further, it proves that 
Paul was favorable to the ordinance being practiced in 
the Church, after having claimed that he had followed 
Christ. What other conclusion can be drawn from the 
language of the apostle in thus counseling the one whom 
he calls his son? Should many of the congregations now 
receive such a letter, what answer could they give to it? 
The answer would inevitably be, We are not in accord with 
such a practice; we have no such widows. Here would be 
an issue at once between the apostle and almost the entire 
religious world at present. Could not the apostle again 
say, "Shall I praise you in this ? I praise you not." Can 
it be thought that the apostle would have written such a 
letter in the absence of such a practice? Certainly not; 
there would have been no cause for so doing. The fact 
that the Scriptures bear evidence of such a letter is the 



isiTim. V, 9p 



Feet-Washing as an Ordinance. 151 

most positive proof that can be given .that the Church in 
Paul's day observed the ordinance. The voice of Jesus is, 
He came into the world to bear witness to the truth; and 
He further says, "Every one that is in the truth heareth 
My voice.^^ 

In conclusion, we say to the people of God, heed not 
the voice of a stranger, but hearken unto the voice of the 
Good Shepherd. To those who are willing to endure re- 
proach for His Word's sake; to those who are willing to 
endure suffering for His name's sake; to those who are 
willing to endure persecution for righteousness' sake; to 
those in every age and in all places, the Spirit says : "Be 
thou faithful until death, and thou shalt have a crown of 
life."' 



MODE OF FEET -WASHING. 

It is indeed strange that the opinions of men have 
wielded a stronger force in religions matters than in any 
field of knowledge. And, stranger still, the doctrine of 
Jesus Christ has been the field in which they have grown 
to the greatest proportions. That men may have the right 
to hold opinions regarding religions matters is freely 
granted ; but that they have the right to practice that opin- 
ion and call it Christianity, when that practice is in op- 
position to the revealed Word, is denied. Opinion, in the 
absence of facts, has inherited rights, that must be re- 
spected. But in the presence of facts, opinion is absolutely 
without authority. 

The history of all races of men has proven that man 
in his normal condition is religiously inclined. And this 
may answer the question why he grants such latitude to 
human opinions. That some form of religion should be 
more natural than unnatural to man is but the express re- 
sult of his nature. Possessing a faculty sensitive to the 
slightest touch of his environment, he is prone to heed that 
touch whether it be real or imaginary. Fortunately, or 
unfortunately, imaginary influences seem mostly to have 
the stronger hold upon him. And this strongly argues that 
the unseen to him, is more real than the seen. May not 
this be-— though not always understood — the inner light, 
the invisible entity seeking again communion with its 
origin, and only finding it when the way, now dark, is again 
lighted with the light from which man has wandered? 
Once, yea twice, has God said, "Let there be light.^^ Light 
and life are strongly related ; darkness may contain life, but 
in darkness life is not far developed, not far from death. 

152 



Mode of Feet-Washing. 153 

Nevertheless it has been said that "some men love dark- 
ness rather than light."'^ The richest blessings are always 
the most abused; and light, because it is light, is unwill- 
ingly giving place to darkness ; as says the prophet, '"Dark- 
ness shall cover the eartli, and gross darkness the people."- 
As the religion of Jesus Christ exceeds the religions of 
men, as light exceeds darkness, in the same proportions 
has it been unwillingly giving place to Antichrist. 

The opinions of men may not accept this, but the truths 
of God's Word declare it again and again. Our task is 
to answer to the truth, and not to the opinions of men. 
There can be no higher aim in life than to stand for the 
truth; and truth means liberty, freedom. For this cause 
was it said, "If the truth makes you free, then are you free 
indeed."^ While truth means freedom, it means more; it 
also means union; for where truth reigns, love and union 
reign also; for "Love rejoiceth not in iniquity, but re- 
joiceth in the truth."* Therefore, because of a division 
among those who practice the ordinance of feet-washing, 
this paper is written. 

Before entering upon our subject, it is necessary to 
state certain facts, that our position may be correctly un- 
derstood. 

First. Christianity as taught b}^ Jesus Christ, means a 
unit — a unit in love, faith, practice, and hope; and the 
triumphant beginning can never as triumphantly end until 
that end is accomplished. "I in them, and Thou in Me, 
that they may be made perfect in one."^ 

Second. The Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, can 
no more be consistently divided, than the literal body of 
Christ was, while on earth. "Is Christ divided?"*^ asks 
Paul. 

Third. Nowhere in the Book of Truth can be found 
the sanction of t^vo Avays of obeying the same command. 



1 John 111, 19. 2 isa. Ix, 2. 3 John viil, 3G. * 1 Cor, xiii, 6. 

5 John xvii, 23. « i cor. 1, 13. 



154 "Ammi— My People/' 

given to the same people, in the same dispensation, for the 
same purpose. "The Lord onr God hath made a breach 
upon US, because we sought Him not after the due order/"^ 
Conclusion. Some are in error, opinion has obtained 
instead of truth. 

The issue having now been defined, we introduce our 
subject by stating the following propositions : 

I. The manner of obeying a command contains an em- 
phasis equal to that of the command. 
II. Every command to be properly obeyed must contain 
within itself, either in precept or example, the 
manner of obeying it. 
III. Eevelation does not show that God ever accepted 
two ways of obeying the same command. 
Upon the preceding propositions, our first argument in 
favor of the Double Mode of Feet-washing will be based.* 
Since the design of a command can only be accom- 
plished through the proper manner of obeying that com- 
mand, to be correctly obeyed the Scriptures must answer 
to this demand. Thus far we have followed the reflection 
of light ; but now comes in the presence of the light itself. 
God's Word is light, and that light came to man in the 
form of a command: "Of all of the fruit of the garden 
thou shalt eat, but of the fruit of the tr^e of the knowledge 

"*!NoTE. — Those who practice feet-washing as a Church or- 
dinance are not united in the manner of performing the work. 
The difference lies in what is called the Double and Single Mode. 
In the Double Mode two brethren go together ; after having laid 
their outer garments aside, the one is girded with a towel who 
follows the one who does the washing of the feet and performs 
the wiping. Usually these two brethren wash the feet of sev- 
eral of their brethren, and then give place to others who take 
up the work where they left off. And thus the washing con- 
tinues until all who expect to commune at that meeting have 
had their feet washed. While at the same time, the sisters 
observe the ordinance among themselves in like manner. 



J 1 Chron. xv, 13. 



Mode of Feet- Washing. 155 

of good and evil thou shalt not eat; for in the day thou 
eatest thereof thou shalt die."^ This is the command, and 
states how it should be obeyed. When the command came 
to build the ark, the command as to the manner of its 
building came also. When the command came to Abraham 
that he should offer a sacrifice, the manner of complying 
thereto came with it. When the pattern of the Tabernacle 
in heaven was to grace the earth, the command was, "See 
thou make it according to the pattern showed thee on the 
mount. "^ When the Lamb was to be slain that should 
typify the efficiency of the blood of Jesus, how plain were 
the directions concerning it! When the symbol of the 
bread of life was given in the wilderness, the most com- 
plete instructions accompanied its coming. Israel had 
been plainly commanded as touching the Ark of the Cove- 
nant; a breach was made, and death followed. Saul broke 
the command of God, and lost his kingdom and everything 
else that was good. The list could be enlarged. Let this 
suffice from the law. 

We now turn to the Gospel. When the angel informed 
Zacharias of the future birth of John the Baptist, the old 
priest doubted; in silence he paid the penalty. Coming 
with the incarnation of the Son of God was the manner 
of its fulfillment. When danger gathered closely around, 
the Child, the command was, "Take Him to Egypt.^^ When 

The Single Mode consists in one brother's doing both the 
washing and the wiping ; but he usually washes and wipes the 
feet of the brother who is next to him while they are sitting at 
the table. In turn the one who has had his feet washed pro- 
ceeds to wash the feet of the brother who is next to him ; and 
so the ordinance is observed until all that expect to commune 
have their feet washed and wiped. In either case none are per- 
mitted to commune at that meeting who have not had their 
feet washed. It is for those who are not acquainted with the 
manner of observing this ordinance that this explanation is 
given. 



8 Gen. ii, 17. ^ Heb. viii, 5. 



156 "Ammi— My People/' 

the time came for taxes to be paid, Peter was commanded 
how to meet them: "Take a hook and cast it into the 
sea."^*^ When the time had fully come for the institution 
of the ordinance of feet-washing, the command indicated 
where to go, and what to do. When the time for the wash- 
ing had come, after girding himself with a towel, Jesus 
proceeded to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them 
with the towel wherewith He was girded : "So after He had 
Avashed their feet, and had taken His garments, and was 
set down again. Pie said unto them. Know you what I have 
done unto you ? Ye call me Master and Lord ; and ye say 
well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have 
washed your feet, ye also ought to w^ash one another's 
feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should 
do as I have done to you."^^ Here is the example and com- 
mand, and all that Jesus has said concerning the ordi- 
nance. All that we can gather as to the manner of its 
observance must be drawn from the preceding Scripture. 
The object of every example is to teach manner or mode. 
Destroy this, and the example or pattern must be divested 
of its power. This is but a simple truth, which runs 
throughout the entire system of law w^herever found.* 

*NoTE. — While there may be other ways in which the or- 
dinance has been performed, tjie manner of the simple act of 
washing is alike in all. The washing is always done by one 
member. The point in this controversy is : Shall he who does 
the washing also perform the wiping? Upon this point the fol- 
lowing remarks are based. It is here claimed that the example 
contained a duality; and in that duality the Father and Son 
were both represented in the work of washing the saints' feet. 

Starting with the first act by which Christ introduced the 
ordinance, the Evangelist records it thus : " He riseth from 
supper, and laid aside his garments ; and took a towel and 
girded himself. After that he poureth water into a basin, and 
began to wash his disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the 
towel wherewith he was girded." 

In the act of preparing to do this work by girding himself 



10 Matt, xvii, 27. n John xi, 12. 



Mode of Feet- Washing. 157 

Our second argument in favor of the Double Mode of 
feet-washing is based upon the example which Christ gave 
to His disciples. 

To some this may seen a paradox, yet it is thought, 
when fully investigated, that it will prove to be consistent 
and also true. No one can do otherwise than admit that 
Jesus, in the capacity of a servant, was teaching in His 
body Avhat the Church, His representative body, should do 
in order to be a light to the world, as He had been a light 
to the world. Jesus Christ was the light of the world, for 
in him "dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily."^^ This 
fact at once destroys the singularity of the example. Fur- 
ther, the following expressions of our Lord are strongly in 
support of a dualit}^, in the example: "My Father work- 
eth hitherto, and I work."^^ "I can of Mine own self do 
nothing."^* "He that hath sent Me, is with Me; I speak 
not of Myself, but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He 
doeth the works.^^^^ "The Son can do nothing of Himself." 
"When ye have lifted up the Son of man; then shall ye 
know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself."^^ 
If these Scriptures prove anything, it must be that there 

with a towel, is demonstrated the power or presence of the 
Father as going before: which is sustaine'd in the words of 
Jesus when he said, *' My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." 
Nothing could represent so consistently the position of the 
Father as this preparing of our Lord to do the last act which 
is to symbolize the fitness of the people to surround the table 
of God in heaven, when all tears shall be wiped away. 

Again, it is a significant fact that in all the woi'k of restor- 
ing man into fellowship with God again, God the Father leads 
in the work, whether typified under the law, or verified in the 
Gospel. In the redemption of the house of Israel, God the 
Father was first, and, in fact, at His instance all things were 
and are done. Nevertheless, the symbolical presence of the 
Son was necessary in order to accomplish their preservation 
from the destroying angel : and this was shown in the presence 



12 Col. ii, 9. 13 John v, 17. i* John v, 30. i5 John xiv, 10. 

lejohnviii, 28. 



158 "Ammi— My People/' 

was a duality in the work of feet- washing. The one and all- 
pervading thought in the Savior's teaching to apostle and 
scribe throughout John's record was, that the ever-present 
and special companion of Christ was His Father. The 
objept of this was to help them to believe in Him; if not 
in Him, "to believe for His works' sake." The Apostle John, 
being the only one to give a history of the ordinance, grants 
us the liberty to draw largely from his record. 

Had the Great Teacher intended in His words to 
destroy the singularity in the example, could he have 
chosen more appropriate words to accomplish it? His 
words are so framed throughout His teaching that they 
convey this thought. Can we not now better see the force 
of the example? Let it be further considered that, at the 
time of introducing this ordinance, the Church was not 
fully established in power, save as it was manifested in 
Him whose body and doctrine it now represents. Not 
until the Spirit took up the office of Teacher and Com- 
forter was this fully accomplished. Until that time the 
nucleus, or point at which life starts, was but forming. 
The disciples were not able to comprehend other than an 
earthly kingdom, unconverted men as they then were; 
hence could not be called living, in a Scriptural sense. 

of the blood of the lamb. It is the '' God of Abraham, and the 
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.'' 

Jesus said, ** No man cometh unto me except the Father who 
has sent me draw him." In the ordinance of baptism the 
Father con?es first, by Christ's own command. As Abraham 
took the lead in the path that led to the mount, where Isaac 
was to be offered, so God the Father led the way to Calvary. 

Nowhere in the revelation from heaven is the act of wiping 
ascribed to the Son, but to the Father ; and in the act of pre- 
paring to wipe, as well as in the wiping, is the presence of God 
symbolized : which is in accord with every step in the plan of 
salvation, from the drawing of the Father until the last tear 
is wiped away from the prodigal's face. Which principle of 
itself demands as forcibly as anything can, a duality in the ex- 
ample of feet-washing. 



Mode of Feet-Washing. 159 

Our third argument in support of the Double Mode of 
feet-washing, is drawn from the fact that individualism 
denotes barrenness, and finally death. At the close of our 
last argument the thought of life at the starting point was 
introduced, and to that we now apply ourself . That indi- 
vidualism must of necessity remain barren is an axiom 
which needs no argument. Further, wherever any princi- 
ple calculated to give life is introduced, duality must be 
present. We start with creation ; we have no concern be- 
yond that : "In the beginning, God created the heavens and 
the earth." Did individualism produce that creation? 
Verily not. In John's record we read, "In the beginning 
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word 
was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All 
things were made by Him ; and without Him was not any 
thing made that was made." 

N^ot only was there a dual power in the creation, but 
creation itself was a duality, — Heaven and Earth, — and 
what increase of life could there have been without this 
twofold power? It is evident there could have been none. 
Both animal and vegetable bear us out on this point; but 
reduce it to individualism, and extinction and death must 
follow. It may be slowly, but it will be just as certainly. 
This is the incontrovertible law of creation, and needs no 
proof to sustain it. 

In Komans i, 20, we read : "For the invisible things of 
Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, be- 
ing understood by the things that are made, even His 
eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without ex- 
cuse." The mysteries concerning the salvation of the 
human family, Paul says, were hid from the foundation of 
the world, but are now revealed to us by the Spirit through 
the Gospel of Christ. Christ came to show us the invisible, 
to enable us to look at the unseen; and this He does by 
using the seen. 

As creation had a beginning, so redemption had also a 



160 "Ammi— My People/' 

beginning; and to deal with either we must begin where 
they began. The beginning of the means of redemption 
was ushered in by the words of the angel, "Hail, highly 
favored, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among 
women. . . . Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy 
womb, and bring forth a Son, and shalt call His name 
Jesus. . . . Then said Mary unto the angel. How can 
these things be, seeing I know not a man ? Then said the 
angel uiito her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and 
the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee : therefore 
that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called 
the Son of God." What holy consistency is here displayed 
in this most mar^'elous incarnation of the Son of God! 
At this point the wisdom of this world is silent and dumb. 
When God imfolds His mysteries, man becomes dumb, — 
"Because Thou didst it." 

By remembering that creation is an act of God, while 
causation is the Avill of God, we can the better apprehend, 
if not fully comprehend. The object of the Infinite Mind 
in creation and redemption was to expand life, and finally 
perfect it, in that glorious completion of them both. This 
nucleus, or starting point of life, was causation, not crea- 
tion. Life could not be created; it is as eternal as God is 
eternal. Again, it was wholly upon the part of God. Mary 
was but clay in the potter's hand. For this cause it took 
a duality of powers or presence to perfect the effect. Hence 
the presence of the Holy Ghost upon Mary, and the shadow 
of the power of the Highest over her. Individualism had 
no place here, because life was to start here, — the life tiiMi: 
shall go on increasing, expanding, multiplying, until from 
out of the throne of God it shall flow as a river. 

Again, at the birth of Jesus there was a twofold witness 
or duality of presence, — the angels and the star. Likewise, 
also, upon the bank of Jordan, when the symbol of the act 
that demonstrates the presence of life had been completed 
in baptism by the washing of regeneration, two witnesses 



Mode or Feet- Washing. 161 

were present, — the dove and the Voice from heaven. Ee- 
member still, we are at the starting point of life, — symbol- 
ical conception, and typical birth, called regeneration (or 
to generate again), in the presence of two witnesses as well. 
In the work of creation there were six different, separate 
acts before it was complete; before the starting point or 
nucleus of life was established upon the earth; and the 
dual or twofold power was ever present, ending with the 
image of God stamped upon clay. Creation was now com- 
plete, save one thing: Eve was not to be found, and the 
result must inevitably be barrenness. Adam sleeps, to 
awake and find a helpmeet. This is creation complete; 
and so good was it that no improvement has ever been 
added. 

We left redemption still at the starting point — not 
finished. Life may be started in an organism, but it needs 
something to sustain it, in nature or in grace. The next 
act in redemption brings us to feet-washing, the Lord's 
Supper, and the communion. Is Jesus alone here? Is 
there any reason why no witnesses were present upon this 
occasion also? Will any individual undertake to give a 
reason? We know that Jesus said, "I have washed your 
feet f but did He not more frequently say, "I do nothing 
of Myself?" Five times has He declared in the record of 
St. John that He was never alone, but that His "Father 
worketh hitherto, and I work." Take notice: the Father 
comes first in the work. There is one work that the Scrip- 
tures do not attribute to Jesus, and that work is the wip- 
ing away of tears from all eyes and all faces. In Isaiah 
XXV, 8, we read, "And the Lord God shall wipe away all 
tears from all faces." Again, in Eevelation xxi, 4, we read, 
"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." It 
may be thought that, as Jesus is also called God, these ex- 
pressions may refer to Him likewise; but not so. In the 
preceding verse in Eevelation we read that "God Himself 
shall be their God." Further, this will not take place until 
11 



162 "Ammi— My People/; 

the time comes that the Son shall deliver up the kingdom 
unto the Father, and God shall be All and in All. Again, 
in Kevelation vii, 17, we read that "The Lamb shall feed 
them, and God shall wipe away all tears/^ In Isaiah the 
meaning is the same. 

Feet-washing is an emblem of cleansing and of happi- 
ness, typifying the condition of the saints when fitted to 
surround the table of God in heaven, when Jesus will again 
be servant; and shall not God Himself be also servant in 
the wiping away of all tears? And this will be done as a 
necessary condition previous to that blessed feast. If such 
is the antitype, shall not the type agree ? Therefore there 
was a duality in the example of feet-washing when our Lord 
introduced it. Jesus did the part that symbolized the 
cleansing, which His body and blood soon after verified. 
The presence of God was symbolized in the wiping, in 
answer to the act which He will perform in receiving the 
prodigal to His Father's house. Here, then, is the invisi- 
ble seen through the visible, the unseen through the things 
that are seen. If, as Pascal says, "nature is the image of 
grace," then creation is the mirror that may reflect re- 
demption. 

The fourth step in creation brought forth the sun, 
moon, and stars, — a trinity that sustains life. They do 
not of themselves produce life, but expand and support it. 
Likewise the fourth step in redemption brought forth the 
ordinances of feet-washing, the Lord^s Supper, and the 
communion. These do not of themselves produce life, but 
they sustain it. The visible presence of life comes at birth, 
natural and spiritual; and each must be sustained. For 
this reason Jesus said, "Except ye eat My flesh and drink 
My blood, ye have no life in you.'' If all the previous acts 
in creation and redemption were witnessed by a twofold 
presence, we have the most reasonable grounds to claim 
that this was so witnessed as well. For this reason, also, 
the example was twofold. 



Mode of Feet-Washing. 163 

The fifth act in creation brought forth living creatures 
and herbs for sacrifice, with death stamped upon them; 
and the High Priest went into the Holy Place to offer 
them alone, with none but himself to witness. Here is in- 
dividualism, and here is death. Death and individualism 
are corelated. The fifth act in redemption brings Jesus 
to the cross, a sacrifice for sin ; and here He dies alone. He 
looked for comforters, and, lo, there were none. He longed 
for some kind one to witness His suffering in sympathy for 
Him, but all had fled. Humanity having forsaken Him, 
He turns to Divinity; and who can measure the depth of 
sorrow and loneliness of soul that forced Him to cry out, 
"My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" It is 
true the earth quaked and the rocks were rent; but they, 
too, were dead; and thus death bears witness to death. 
Here, again, is individualism, and here is death. 

The sixth act in creation brings man from clay, bear- 
ing the image of his Maker, and receiving all power over 
creation. The sixth act in redemption brings Christ from 
the grave, with all power given unto Him both in heaven 
and in earth. And here, again, we find witnesses, one at 
the head and the other at the feet, where Jesus was laid. 
Life was there, and Truth was there ; and neither go alone, 
but ever have a witness to accompany them. The seventh 
act in creation brings the holy Sabbath, the Day of Eest, 
wherein the infant creation reposes calmly and peacefully 
upon the footstool of its ]\Iaker, breathing in innocence the 
inexpressible glory of purity and peace. The seventh act 
in redemption brings the glorious Millennial Sabbath, a 
rest for the people of God; a day when the lamb and the 
lion shall lie down together, and all the inhabitants of the 
earth shall unite in one strain to answer the prayer of Him 
who redeemed them, saying with a loud voice, "Thy king- 
dom has come ; Thy will is done on earth as it is in heaven." 

Thus in every step save one, whether in creation or re- 
demption, we have found the presence of witnesses; making 



164 "Ammi— My People/' 

a combination of incontrovertible testimony against the 
singleness of mode in the practice of feet-washing as a 
Church ordinance; bnt equally as strong in favor of a 
duality, — and still maintaining that analogy of law per- 
vades both kingdoms, natural and spiritual, and that the 
spiritual can not be correctly taught nor properly under- 
stood but through the medium of the natural. 

Furthermore, not until individuals cease to abuse the 
natural will God vouchsafe to them the beauties of the 
spiritual. There can be no abuse more darkening and 
blinding to one seeking for light in the spiritual than to 
turn a deaf ear to the lessons of nature. How long, how 
long, will it take the nations to learn that nature is unerr- 
ingly true to her God, and that her God is as tenderly and 
Fatherly true to her ? In all of our Lord's teachings, none 
are so full of simplicity, and show so clearly the pureness 
and greatness of His character, as those drawn from the 
field of nature. In teaching us carefulness. He tells us 
"the hairs of our head are numbered." In teaching us 
kindness, we hear Him say, "Not a sparrow falls to the 
ground without your Father's notice." In helping us to 
admire the beautiful. His counsel is, "Behold the lilies 
how they grow V Blind must be our eyes if, when looking 
at Mount Horeb, we can not see the reflection of Calvary. 
How like are the spotless Lamb of God bowing in Jordan 
and the innocent Babe of the shepherd ! 

Our souls should magnify the man of God, and our 
spirits rejoice in His words, when in His boldness for the 
cause of his Lord, he declared to the wise men of ,Eome, 
While you profess to be wise, you are fools. Fools, because 
they had changed the worship of God into the worship of 
creatures; serving their own unholy lusts to that degree 
that even their women with them trampled upon the law 
of nature, burning in the fire which their own impurities 
had kindled. And out of this seething caldron of vice goes 
forth a catalogue of sin for which death only would be a 
fitting recompense. 



Mode of Feet-Washing. 



165 



Being dead to virtue, purity, and truth, their boasted 
wisdom became the cloud of their own making, that could 
but make the darkness deeper. When men and minds ar- 
ray themselves against God and His Word, and seek the 
light of their own imaginations, darkness follows close upon 
them, and more especially since God "will send them strong 
delusions to make them believe a lie, who love not the 
truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness."^^ 

Eealizing the opposition that the advocates of the 
Double Mode of feet-washing have to encounter, and the 
popularity the opposite view has received, we feel like pre- 
senting to the reader, in a tabulated form, the points in 
the preceding argument, that they may be the more easily 
grasped and understood. 



Creation, and the acts by 
which it was completed, in 
order to produce and perpetu- 
ate life. 

First Act. — The heavens 
and the earth were created. 
Embryonic condition of the 
world ; and in darkness ; and 
two witnesses present, the 
Father and the Son. 



Second Act. — ''Let there be 
light, and there was light." 
The heavens and the earth 
were born, came to light, for 
this is the meaning of birth. 
Father and Son present. 

Third Act. — "And God said. 
Let there be a firmament in the 
midst of the heavens, and let 
it divide the waters from the 
waters. And God called the 
firmament heaven." 

All below that firmament 



Redemption, and the acts by 
which eternal life was pro- 
cured and offered to the world. 



First Act.— The Holy Ghost 
falls upon the Virgin ; and the 
power of the Highest over- 
shadows her. Mary conceives 
the Nucleus, or Embryo, of life, 
and it is in darkness, while two 
witnesses testify to the scene. 

Second Act. — And Mary 
brought forth her first-born 
Son, and laid Him in a man- 
ger. The angels and the star 
were the witnesses. 

Third Act. — *'And Jesus, 
when he was baptized, went 
up straitway out of the water." 

Jesus parted the waters, or 
in other words, established a 
firmament in the midst of 
Jordan. All that passed be- 



"2Thess. 11, 11. 



166 



'Ammi — My People/ 



was earthly, subject to death ; 
all above that firmament was 
life, purity, heaven. At this 
point life appeared upon the 
earth. 
Father and Son to witness. 



FouETH Act. — "And God 
made two great lights, the 
greater to rule the day and 
the lesser to rule the night ; 
He made the stars also." 

Here is the trinity that is to 
sustain life. 

Again Father and Son wit- 
ness. 



Fifth Act. — Living crea- 
tures were brought forth in- 
struments of sacrifice, with 
death stamped upon them. 
The end of which was to be 
offered alone in the presence 
of the high priest as an offer- 
ing for sin. 

No witnesses here. 

Sixth Act. — Brings man 
from clay, bearing the image 
of his Maker, and possessing a 
living soul. Creation has a 
King. And the evening and 
the morning were the sixth 
day. 

"Let us make man," im- 
plies the presence of wit- 
nesses. 



low that firmanent was to die. 
All that was above that firma- 
ment was to live and be pure. 
At this point spiritual life has 
its beginning. And here again 
we have two to witness, the 
voice of the Father and the 
Spirit dove. 

Fourth Act. — ' ' Jesus washes 
the disciples' feet ; institutes 
the Lord's Supper and the 
communion. 

A trinity also that is to sus- 
tain life, happiness, and fel- 
lowship. 

As the sun, moon, and stars 
support natural life, so also the 
Trinity feet -washing. Lord's 
Supper, and the communion 
support spiritual life. 

Which thing demands a dual- 
ity in the example, in order to 
be consistent with Law. 

Fifth Act. — Jesus dies upon 
the cross, as a sacrifice for sin, 
an offering to God for the rec- 
onciling of the world. 

And here he dies alone, also. 
No witnesses here. 



Sixth Act. — Brings Jesus 
from the grave triumphant 
^ver death, hell, and the grave, 
crowned with immortality and 
eternal life, having all power 
in heaven and in earth. 

Redemption has a King, who 
is Lord of All. And two angels 
witness the scene. 



Mode of Feet-Washing. 167 

Seventh Act. — The Sabbath SeventhAct, — Will bring the 
is established a day of rest, in Millennial Sabbath, in which 
commemoration of the com- Jesus and His people will rest 
pletion of creation. from labor, sin, and sorrow, 

and enjoy that blessedness 
which remains for the people 
of God. 

By comparing the different steps in creation with those 
in redemption, we find a perfect harmony running 
throughout the entire work, and so completely agreeing 
in every detail that we no longer stand in doubt as to 
Paul's declaration w^hen he says, "For the invisible things 
of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, 
being understood through the things that are made; even 
His eternal power and Godhead, so they are without 
excuse." 

Our third argument in favor of duality in the example 
is drawn from the principle of a trinity in all of God's 
work, — Creation, Providence, and Eedemption. 

In our preceding argument the presence of a twofold 
power working with matter as a means in order to accom- 
plish an end was considered. The old theology, w^hich 
teaches that God made the world out of nothing, should 
have been still-born. We have a reasonable God; and His 
work confirms the fact that from nothing, nothing comes; 
for all we have seen, and all ^q now see, and all we shall 
ever see, are but the product of mind over matter. Begin- 
ning at creation, and closing at Eevelation, where Jesus, the 
Spirit, and the Bride say. Come, a trinity is manifested in 
every step. In creation we find a twofold pow6r, or mind, 
working with matter. There is even a trinity in the God- 
head. The earth, light, and heat produce all that lives. 
There is a trinity in everything that is born, from the 
smallest blade of grass to the highest development of life 
— ^man. Man is composed of a trinity. There is a trinity 
in the mission of the ark, — N'oah, the ark, and the flood. 



16§ ^^Ammi— My People/' 

Separated, the}^ have no meaning. Mount Horeb presents 
a trinity;, — Abraham, the sacrifice, and the altar. To 
Moses appeared the bush, the fire, and God. The signal 
of Israel's deliverance was a trinity, — the lamb, the blood, 
and the door-posts. The sea, the cloud, and the fire ac- 
companied their deliverance from their enemies. They 
had a trinity of feasts, — Passover, Tabernacles, and In- 
gathering. There was a trinity in the lion's den, — Daniel, 
the lions, and the angel. Why is this? — "That in the 
mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be estab- 
lished." Further, that the Godhead may be honored. 
God is Truth, and Truth never travels without a witness. 
When He promised Israel prosperity, the covenant was 
sealed by calling heaven and earth to witness. Time is 
divided into three distinct periods, — from Adam to Noah ; 
from Noah to Christ; and from Christ in the manger to 
Christ in victory. There is a trinity in every ordinance in 
the house of God, from baptism to the anointing with oil 
in the name of the Lord. Finally, in the closing of this 
dispensation — the last hour of the day of grace — God will 
prove the righteousness of His cause, through all dispen- 
sations, by the mouth of three witnesses, — Enoch, Elijah, 
and the flying angel. 

By this uniformity of law God has proven Himself un- 
changeable in all His work ; and so must His people prove 
themselves in like manner. This the single order of feet- 
washing, sets aside, and breaks the harmony in God's 
house and people. For this reason it can not be of God, 
but is a product of the opinions of men. 

Our fourth argument in favor of the Double Mode of 
feet-washing is based upon the principle that feet-washing 
is a Church ordinance ; and any number not large enough 
to represent that body has no legal right to wash feet in a 
Church capacity. 

The point in the argument is this: In Christ dwells 
the fullness of the Godhead bodily, a Trinity; and the 



Mode of Feet-Washing. 169 

Church, His m3^stical body, must represent that Trinity in 
all her work, as Christ did in His. Again, this Trinity 
must be honored; and as the unseen is symbolized by the 
things that are seen, any number less than three can not 
answer the demand. For this reason the apostle demands 
that number in the observance of the anointing with oil. 
Here, again, the single order fails to meet the demand that 
the law of God requires. 

Our fifth argument in favor of the practice of the peo- 
ple of God is drawn from the fact that the Single Mode 
of feet-washing has failed to sustain itself in duration 
among its advocates. Many of the religious bodies that 
in times past practiced the ordinance have ceased to ob- 
serve it for many years. History and personal knowledge 
evidence this statement. The assertion that all bodies of 
religious people who at one time observed the ordinance, 
and have ceased to practice it, washed in the single mode, 
remains yet to be successfully disproven. Nor should we 
wonder at this. That individualism in any kingdom is 
its own destroyer, is an axiom that nothing but folly would 
undertake to disprove. 

In conclusion, we would say that we have dwelt at 
some length upon this subject, and have endeavored to 
treat it fairly. The arguments presented have been drawn 
from the Scriptures, or from the recorded evidence of the 
practice itself. A desire for the truth, and to be honest 
with it, has been the guide in arriving at our conclusions. 
Our heart is tender and our love warm toward many of 
those who have departed from the true practice as observed 
by our fathers and by holy men of old. And why should 
this not be? Once we were brethren, mutually bound by 
the ties of Christian fellowship, a tie the world knows noth- 
ing of. Around one altar we bowed, and breathed a com- 
mon prayer to the Father of mercies as the voice of one 
soul, and there received the evidence of love and union, the 



170 ^ "Ammi— My People/' 

binding pledge of Him who rejoices to say "My People.'^ 
Long and loud, deep and strong have been the pleadings 
for a union of those ties again. How long, how long, 
onr God, shall prowling wolves continue to destroy the 
flock, and designing men cause the remnant to err ? Alas ! 
many to-day are scattered over this broad land as sheep 
without a shepherd, longing for the fold again. Dissatis- 
faction abounds; with doubts and fears, many behold the 
course of things, and are powerless to change it. Some 
take solace in refusing to commune longer with those with 
whom they stand connected; while others, like [N'aomi of 
old, have gone to the land of Moab, only to find a more 
sore famine there. Will they return ? Bishops retire from 
charges, hoping thereby to escape responsibility, while 
men of unmatured years supplant them, inviting innova- 
tions and defying discipline, until almost the last vestige 
of the temple service is gone; and what remains will soon 
go. Your groanings can not withstand the current; your 
tears can not stay the tide; for long since has the flatter- 
ing voice of the enemy caused your complaints to be heard 
no longer. The ten tribes, like Israel of old, have gone 
into Samaria once more, and Jeroboam's reign is supreme. 
Altars many, and priests many, will never avail so long as 
the law remains broken. 

Our appeal is not to the world, but to those who were 
once in Spiritual Israel. To those who know the truth, 
and love the truth, and are willing to obey the truth, it is 
to you and in your behalf our voice is raised. With Paul, 
can it be said, ^'My heart's desire and prayer for my Gen- 
tile brethren is, that they may be saved. For many yet 
have zeal, but are lacking in knowledge." 

And now to the people of God, my brethren and sisters 
in the faith of the Gospel which is in Christ Jesus our 
Lord, take courage, be steadfast, be kind, be loving, be 
pure, striving in the fear of the Lord to contend for the 



Mode of Feet-Washing. 171 

faith once delivered unto the saints. Above all things, 
adorn your life with virtue, having your conversation 
chaste, and walking in the fear of the Lord. And when 
the battle is over, and our journey done, with one heart and 
voice, let us say, "Thanks be to God who giveth us the vic- 
tory, through our Lord Jesus Christ." 



THE LOED'S SUPPEE. 

That the Savior of mankind ate a meal called Suppen 
on the night when He instituted the ordinances of feet- 
washing and the communion^ is clearly defined by the 
Evangelists in the record they give of that night. Whilst 
they do not record the history of the event so as to convey 
the same thought upon every point, they agree as to the 
Supper. In Matthew we read, "ISTow the first day of the 
feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus say- 
ing, Where wilt thou that we prepare for Thee to eat the 
Passover? And He said, Go into the city to such a man, 
and say unto him. The Master sayeth. My time is at hand ; 
I will keep the Passover at thy house with My disciples. 
And the disciples did as Jesus had commanded them, and 
they made ready the passover."^ "Now, when the evening 
had come He sat down with the twelve. And as they did 
eat, He said unto them, Verily I say unto you, one of you 
shall betray Me." The account of Mark and Luke is sub- 
stantially the same. All agree in calling it the Passover, 
having reference to the annual feast of the Jews that was 
instituted in the land of Egypt by Moses at the command 
of God. This feast they were commanded to keep through- 
out their generation forever. 

In this connection the reader is asked to pay careful at- 
tention as to the time of certain events preceding the eat- 
ing of this meal, or he will be at a loss to arrive at a proper 
understanding of our subject. Many have erred in this 
respect, and so have lost sight of the true meaning of the 
two words, Passover and Supper. In turning to John's 
record, we read: "Then Jesus six days before the Pass- 



1 Matt, xxvl, 11-19. 

172 



The Lord's Supper. 173 

over came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been 
dead, whom he raised from the dead. There they made 
him a supper, and Martha served; but Lazarus was one of 
them that sat at the table with Him. Then took Mary a 
pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed 
the feet of Jesus."^ This now is six days before the 
Passover. 

The Evangelist Mark, in his record, gives an account of 
another supper. "I^ow when Jesus was in Bethany in the 
house of Simon the leper, there came unto him a woman 
having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and 
poured it on His head as He sat at meat."^. In another 
place we read, "Ye know that after two days is the Feast 
of the Passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be cru- 
cified." We have now two points firmly fixed as to time, 
and also two different scenes. Six days before the Pass- 
over Jesus is at the house of Martha and Mary, where the 
feet of Jesus were washed ; date of the month, 8th of Msan. 
Again, two days before the Passover Feast, Jesus is in 
Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, where Mary, who 
had previously washed His feet, now anoints His head, or 
body, as Jesus spoke of the act in Mary^s defense. 

The reader will be greatly aided in this investigation by 
noting the time and place, and what transpired at the two 
suppers here spoken of. This brings us to the 12th day 
of the month Nisan, two days before the Passover. By 
turning to Genesis xii, we find explicit instructions for 
preparing the lamb for the Passover. There are no insti- 
tutions in the Book of Truth so full of meaning and sig- 
nificance as the lamb of the Passover, and the Lamb of 
God upon the cross ; the one the Type, the other the Anti- 
type; and when taken.in that sense their meaning is bound- 
less; but if we separate them, we destroy the meaning of 
one of the most impressive lessons that Heaven has de- 
signed to teach. The entire compass and force of the 

2 John xli, 1. 3 Mark xiv, 3. 



174 "Ammi— My People." 

Mosaic law was fulfilled in the blood of its victim. The 
one introduced it, the other fulfilled it; for He who died 
upon the cross said, "I came not to destroy the law, but to 
fulfill it.^' 

We left Jesus at Bethany on the 12th day of the month, 
^^ow, the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, the 
disciples came to Jesus.^^* "And the first day of unleavened 
bread, when the Passover must be killed.^'^ Now the feast of 
unleavened bread drew nigh.'^^ There is no doubt that the 
three Evangelists in the preceding quotations are describ- 
ing the same circumstance ; yet by close observation it will 
be seen that they differ in one respect : Matthew speaks of 
the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, while the 
others of the first day of unleavened bread. By removing 
the italicized words in Matthew, his record reads in har- 
mony with Mark and Luke. The point is, the first day of 
unleavened bread was the 14th day of the month, while the 
first day of the feast of unleavened bread was the 15th of 
the month. Why attention is called to this difference in 
time will appear later on. 

This 14th day of the month was called the day of 
preparation, also the day the Paschal Lamb was to be 
killed ; and, further, it was called the day of holy convoca- 
tion, when all leaven was to be removed from their dwell- 
ings. The evening of this day finds Jesus and His dis- 
ciples gathered in the upper room in Jerusalem, where they 
ate the meal called this Passover or Supper. At this time 
and place Jesus spoke the following words to them, 
"With desire have I desired to eat tliis Passover with you 
before I suffer.^'^ 

We now turn to the record of John, who wrote at the 
close of the first, or the beginning of the second century. 
His plainness of speech, his completeness of narration, his 
avowed accuracy of his record, his intimacy of fellowship 
with his Lord, the miraculous revelation confided to him 



4Matt. xxvi, 17. 5Markxiv, 12. ©Lukexxii, 1. 7 Luke xxU, 15. 



The Lord's Supper. 175 

by JesiTS -upon the isle of Patmos, combine to give tlie 
greatest possible force to his words. This guarantees to 
every student of the Scriptures the right to draw largely 
from his narrative. A sure way to find the starting point 
of anything is to reverse the trail. In order that we make 
no mistake, we will apply this method to John's narra- 
tive^ in our investigation of this subject : "There laid they 
Jesus therefore because of the Jews^ preparation day; for 
the sepulcher was nigh at hand.'^^ This preparation day 
is the same day spoken of by the other Evangelists — the 
day Ijefore the Passover. In the fifteenth chapter of Luke 
it is stated that Jesus died at the ninth hour of this day, — 
the day before the Passover. 

By returning to John's record we read, "But the Jews 
cried out, saying. If thou let this man go, thou art not 
Cesar's friend. . . . When Pilate heard this saying, 
he brought Jesus forth. . . . And it was the prepara- 
tion of the Passover, and about the sixth hour." "And 
they themselves (the chief priests and the elders) went not 
into the Judgment hall, lest they be defiled : but that they 
might eat the Passover." Luke says this council was in 
the morning of that same day. (See xv, 1.) 

The united testimony of the Scriptures is, that Jesus 
died on the preparation day, or 14th of the month, at the 
ninth hour, the time which the law prescribed for the 
killing of the Lamb; thus bringing the type and the anti- 
type into the most perfect harmony. It was so prophesied 
in the law and the prophets ; and neither could pass away 
until all should be fulfilled. With the point established, by 
the united testimony of the inspired writers, that Jesus 
died and was buried on the day of the preparation of the 
Passover, what men may say, learned or unlearned, scribe 
or Gentile, can not change the fact. It then follows, as 
certainly as day follows night, that Jesus did eat that 



sjohuxix,42. 



176 "Ammi— My People/' 

Passover or Supper on the evening of the 13th day of the 
month. To deny this, is to deny revelation. 

We now arrive at the issne between those who observe 
this Supper or Passover as an ordinance in the house of 
God and those who oppose it. The reason given by the op- 
posers of the ordinance is, that Jesus ate the Jewish Pass- 
over, and for that reason it should not be perpetuated. It 
is denied that Jesus ate the Jewish Passover, for the reason 
that he did not eat it at the time prescribed in the law for 
its observance. It has been sustained by the Scriptures, be- 
yond the possibility of contradiction, that the meal that 
Jesus and His disciples partook of in the upper room in 
Jerusalem was on the day before the time. 

Again, this meal could not have been the Jewish Pass- 
over, for that would have made Jesus a transgressor of 
the law, which would have furnished His accusers a just 
cause to condemn Him. Further, had he not observed the 
proper time of eating that feast previously? No one can 
truthfully say He had not. Should Jesus have done what 
our opposers say He did. His words would be without 
meaning, "I came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it." 

^'either did He eat it in the manner which the law de- 
manded. Our opposers tell us that the Jews in the time 
of Christ had corrupted the Passover as well as the time 
and manner of observing it. Whatever those stubborn Jews 
had done, does not concern us in this investigation. It is 
clearly perceived that they were hlind to the truth; hut 
was Christ f Will any one accuse Him of being disobedient 
to any of His Father's commands? Should we not use 
caution in these things lest haply we be found fighting 
against God ? It does not take as great an effort to imbibe 
the spirit of Antichrist as some people think. 

In regard to the Jews corrupting the time and manner 
of their feast, Josephus affirms to the contrary. (Book vi, 
chap. X, p. 562, art. 3.) Furthermore, the Jews of the 
present time keep the feast according to the law as nearly 



The Lord's Supper. 177 

as possible under their condition. It does seem, on the con- 
trary, that if the stubborn Gentiles had their way, neither 
law nor Gospel would mean anything. Their boldness 
would rob God of revelation, and destroy the faith of His 
people. Further, the fact that Jesus was the Antitype of 
the lamb upon which the Passover was based for all its 
meaning, necessarily demands that He should die at that 
precise time in which they were commanded to slay the 
lamb. Destroy this, and the entire typology of the Bible 
is confusion. There can be no meaning in typical teach- 
ing unless the type and antitype present a similarity of 
purpose or idea. 

The Greek word for type is Tupos, which means pat- 
tern. Let us observe some of the features in which < this 
likeness consisted. The lamb of the Passover was to be of 
mature age and perfect in every detail. So was the Lamb 
of God. The Paschal lamb was to be slain within a cer- 
tain time in the day, its blood to be the signal of that peo- 
ple's deliverance. So also with the Lamb of God. They 
were not to break a bone in the body of the lamb in Egypt. 
Neither did they in the body of the Lamb of God. The- 
old prophet had warned them long before they crucified 
Him that "a bone of Him should not be broken.''^ In 
view of these surrounding circumstances, on either side, 
we are irresistibly brought to the conclusion that Jesus did 
not, and could not, have eaten the Jewish feast the night 
of His betrayal. 

However plain all this may be, we can not pass this 
part of our subject without some further remarks upon it ; 
for the opposition have endeavored to intrench themselves 
within the fort of the Jewish Passover claim, content with 
the thought that none could pass over, pass through, or 
pass under, thus having seemingly no further anxiety about 
the matter, and thereby creating an influence dangerous to 
what some think is truth. Keturning to the thought that 

9 Num. Ix, 12. 

12 



178 "Ammi— My People/' 

the Jews had corrupted the manner of eating the Pass- 
over, John, who was an eye-witness, says, "The Jews went 
not into the judgment hall lest they be defiled; but that 
they might eat the Passover."^^ 

We are not given to the act of trying to acquit the 
guilty ; neither do we want to be guilty of false accusation. 
While the accusers of Christ were blind to crime in other 
things, the apostle acquits them of thus corrupting their 
feast. Men who to-day accuse the Jews of corrupting their 
feast, make themselves more obnoxious in the eyes of the 
apostle than did those Jews. How small a pretense will 
keep individuals from doing an act, when they do not wish 
to do it ! Some have yet to learn that nothing but failure 
must come from any effort to get one right out of tAvo 
wrongs. 

It is claimed, also, that as Christ called it a Passover, 
it must have been so. Upon first thought the mind is in- 
clined to admit that claim; but when carefully examined, 
the difference is plain. Jesus did not speak of it in His ac- 
customed way, nor in the way the Jews spoke of it. There 
are but two expressions common in speaking of that ordi- 
nance in its day. It was called the Feast, or the Feast of 
the Passover; because, first, it was the principal or most 
important of the ordinances in the Jewish economy; sec- 
ond, it was spoken of as the Feast in order to distinguish it 
from other Jewish feasts. Christ used neither of these 
expressions; but says, "With desire have I desired to eat 
this Passover with you before I suffer." 

The word Passover in connection with the Jewish feast 
drew its meaning from the act of the destroying angel pass- 
ing over the Hebrew dwellings the night that the first-born 
of the Egyptians were slain; or, in other words, it was a 
passing from the land of bondage to that of freedom. The 
latter seems to have been the meaning that Jehovah gave it 
when teaching the people the manner of its commemora- 



lojohnxvUi, 



. The Lord's Supper. 179 

tion. Giving the word the meaning that Heaven attached 
to it — which can not fail to be safe — we have consistent 
grounds still to call it a Passover. Was it not passing from 
the dead letter of the law nnto the living power of the 
Spirit through Grace; from the imperfect sacrifices of 
beasts and birds unto the perfect sacrifice of the eternal 
Son of God, who offered Himself once for all a sacrifice for 
sin, and is forever set down at the right hand of God mak- 
ing intercession for us; passing from the bondage and 
groanings of sin into the glorious liberty of the children of 
God? Eight well, indeed, could our Lord call it this Pass- 
over. There was a deeper meaning surrounding the Lord's 
Passover — and that is the Lord's name for it — than the 
house of Israel in their day discerned. Whilst it was to 
teach them their deliverance from natural bondage, it was 
intended also to teach them spiritual freedom in its con- 
summation. In teaching them the presence of God among 
them, it should have taught them of His coming to dwell 
in them. 

Likewise this Passover, or Supper, which Jesus ate with 
His disciples, combines a holier and more significant mean- 
ing than the Gentile nations seem to discern. What more 
forcible s^mibol could the Divine Mind have used to teach 
the equality of m.en and the mutual fellowship of the sor- 
rows and joys of earth, binding together in one common 
union our hopes and fears, our songs and pra3'ers, our all, 
whether in life or in death, than by preparing a feast and 
a table around which all may come, and there, in the pres- 
ence and company of Him who ordained it, and in the 
power of Him who sanctified it, to commemorate the vic- 
torv over flesh and the world? And if the shadow — for 
now we see through a glass darkly — is thus glorious, what 
must be the eternal and ineffable glory that shall crown 
the consummate Antit3^e in the kingdom of God, when 
all the redeemed of the earth will surround that table which 
God, and not man, has spread; and there by the ties of 



180 "Ammi— My People/' 

Sonsliip, through Him who washed them in His own blood, 
feast in the presence of the unspeakable beauties of heaven, 
while an innumerable company of angels, with harps of 
gold, shall swell the unending anthem, all the inhabitants 
crying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb who hath 
redeemed us by His own blood, out of every nation, kin- 
dred, tongue, and people; and hath made us priests of 
God and of Christ, and we shall reign with Him for ever 
and ever?'^ This is the meaning of this Passover; this is 
the meaning for which it was instituted. ; and for its blessed 
meaning the people of God will perpetuate it. 

Our second reason for the perpetuation of this Supper 
as a Church ordinance is based upon the principle of con- 
sistency in the works of God. The Scriptures sustain the 
fact that God is unchangeable, and one uniform system of 
law runs throughout the entire method of heaven. From 
the sacrifice of Abel to the sacrifice upon the cross, there is 
the clearest uniformity of means to accomplish the end. 
The fallj the floods and the cross are inseparably bound 
by the same principle, — the principle of Sin. The fall was 
the fruit of sin; the flood was the harvest of sin; and the 
cross is the remedy for sin. A uniformity of cause calls 
for a uniformity of means in order to reach the desired 
result. The Lord's Passover, which He instituted in Egypt, 
had a meaning and object within itself; and that object was 
to teach the people the power of God over the man-made 
gods of Egypt, as also His goodness and love toward them, 
in order that thereafter they should rely upon Him, and 
Him alone, and, by the continued commemoration of the 
act of their deliverance, the better remember their De- 
liverer. 

For this reason the Lord's Supper was instituted, and 
for the same reason it should be perpetuated, j^or need 
we a more just reason than this, — it is an emblem that 
fitly embodies the principle of brotherhood and sisterhood, 
and beautifully typifies the love, peace, and good will that 



The Lord's Supper. 181 

should characterize true life as lived by Him who insti- 
tuted the rite. 

After having fulfilled its design in the sacrifice of 
Christ upon the cross, the Lord's Passover was to meet its 
end ; the shadow and the substance came together, the Type 
and the Antitype. The entire Mosaic economy was sup- 
planted by a better covenant, having been purged by a 
holier sacrifice. As that institution had a future consum- 
mation, so the Lord's Supper, which was ordained in the 
upper room in Jerusalem, has an antitype or consumma- 
tion as well. 

Of what that meal consisted does not necessarily con- 
cern our subject; suffice it to say, it was a meal, or, prop- 
erly speaking, a supper, which, according to the custom, 
was the principal meal of the day; and this should satisfy 
the honest seeker after truth in that direction. So far as 
the words Passover or Supper may be thought to qualify 
that feast, they can have no weight in changing its design 
or meaning, from the fact that both words are applied to it, 
and by inspired men. This one thing we gather, nowhere 
is it called a Passover after it was eaten, but a Supper. 
Paul speaks of it as the Lord's Supper. 

The word supper, as applied to an evening meal, is a 
common term in use by the sacred writers. The Greek 
word supper is Deipnon. By comparing its use we can 
the better be assured of the correctness of what has been 
said : "Belshazzar the king made a great feast for a thou- 
sand of his lords." Here the word Deipnon is used in the 
Greek. "A certain man made a great supper, and bade 
many." Again the word Deipnon is used for supper. 
"There they made him a supper (Deipnon), and Martha 
served." Paul, in 1 Corinthians xi, in speaking of a sup- 
per uses the same Greek word, as do the preceding writers, 
showing that there is a uniform use of that word when 
speaking of a full meal. 

Here are the necessary things that go to make a supper 



182 "Ammi— My People/' 

in the full sense of that word: A table sufficiently large 
for all the guests, and provisions enough for all. These 
are the main features which compose a harmonious feast ; 
and the principle of a feast is the point at issue. When we 
remember that God has never undertaken to teach us a 
spiritual design without using a natural image by which 
to convey that design, we can easily grasp the nature and 
intent of this feast. By accepting this view, we have the 
seen before us; let us now turn the vision toward the un- 
seen. "For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or 
he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am 
among you as one that serveth. Ye are they which have 
continued with me in my temptations. And I appoint 
unto you a kingdom, as My Father hath appointed unto 
Me a kingdom ; that ye may eat and drink with Me in My 
kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of 
Israel."^^ ^^Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the king- 
dom of God.^^ "Blessed are those servants, whom their 
Lord when He cometh shall find watching: verily I say 
unto you that He shall gird Himself and make^ them to 
sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them."^^ 
These Scriptures plainly locate and qualify the anti- 
type of the natural Supper instituted by Jesus upon earth, 
but which has its consummation or fulfillment in the king- 
dom of God. The type was ordained on earth to show forth 
the mutual fellowship of love and union that should char- 
acterize the people of God in this world of strife and 
division, — a happy meeting where rich and poor, high and 
low, great and small, could meet together and enjoy a 
common feast, around one common table, ordained by one 
common Savior, in order to teach one common salvation. 
Could the Father of mercies have chosen a more appro- 
priate symbol to convey the holy end of such a righteous 
beginning? We think not. And when it shall have run 
its course, as did the Passover in Egypt; when the design- 



11 Tjuke xxii, 27. 12 Luke xii, 37, : 



The Lord's Supper. 183 

of the earthly shall be supplemented by the bringing in of 
the heavenly; when as one common family the people of 
God shall be gathered home^ who can measure the fullness 
of that joy when, around one table in our Heavenly 
Father's kingdom, they shall sit down with Abraham, 
Isaac, Jacob, and all the bloodwashed throng, to feast upon 
the bread of eternal life, while Jesus Himself will serve 
them? blessed thought, when life's sorrows are over; 
when tears and trials are over; when temptations are over; 
when these lonely heartburnings are over, — then, then, 
in that sweet day, when the morning of immortality shall 
dawn in its fullness, upon the zephyrs of that eternal 
spring shall be borne the anthems of infinite song, echoing 
the words of the psalmist, "I will praise my God while I 
have my being." Hence it is we find a striking similarity 
])etween the type and the antitype. At each there is a full 
meal called supper; at each there is a table around which 
there is room for all the guests ; each is a feast of love, en- 
joyed by the same people; at each Jesus does the serving. 
Our position is sustained by the law of typology as applied 
to the Scriptures; nor is there a more harmonious likeness 
anywhere to be found in all the Book of Truth. 

Our third argument to prove that the Lord's Supper is 
a full meal, and to be observed by His people, is drawn 
from the language of Paul to the Church at Corinth. 
"When ye come together into one place, this is not to eat 
the Lord's Supper; for in eating every one taketh before 
other his own supper, and one is hungry and the other is 
drunken. What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink 
in, or despise ye the Church of God, and shame them that 
have not ? Shall I praise you in this ? I praise you not." 

It is sad to think that many men of good understand- 
ing and sound mind have wrested this Scripture in such 
a way as to destroy its meaning entirely so to them and 
their following Paul is an idle talker. It is but fair to 
say that such motives can not be prompted by pure de- 



184 ''Ammi— My People/' 

sires ; they darken the mind rather than enlighten it. Will- 
ful blindness is blindness in its worst form; none are so 
blind as those who do not wish to see. Yet it is a fact that 
we should only assent to a proposition in proportion to the 
evidence upon which that proposition rests. If this rule 
is observed^ we shall find ourselves consistent in the end, 
whatever principle we undertake to analyze. 

If Paul was condemning the Church at Corinth for 
eating a supper, then his words must contain such evidence. 
We will now examine his language. "When ye come to- 
gether into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper." 
Does this language convey the thought that, by the Church's 
coming together into one place they were prohibited from 
eating the Lord's Supper? If so, the only course to be 
pursued was to eat it at home. Whether that supper was 
a full meal, or only the bread and wine, it can make no 
difference at this stage of our investigation. If Paul was 
condemning the one, he also condemned the other.^^ 

ISTow we certainly know that the Lord's Supper is a 
Church ordinance, to be celebrated in a Church capacity, 
and not in the family. This at once sets aside the claim 
that Paul was condemning the eating of a feast or supper 
as a Church ordinance. 

"For every one taketh before other his own supper." 
Here the apostle fully explains the tiling which he was op- 
posing; and tliat was the manner in which they were ob- 
serving that ordinance. Hence it was the abuse of that 
Supper which the .apostle could not approve ; and this pas- 
sage proves that the Church at Corinth had such an ordi- 
nance, or they could never have fallen into the abuse of it. 
A thing must necessarily exist before it can be abused. 
We have found no ground on which to rest the claim 
against that ordinance as yet, except the abuGe of it. The 
force of the apostle's words must be that when they came 
together to eat the feast, they did^ not come in the right 



13 1 Oor. xl, 20. 



The Lord's Supper. 185 

way; they did not manifest the right spirit; and when 
that is wanting, all is wanting; no good can come from 
such a condition of things. They had not the right spirit, 
because they were selfish, unbrotherly, disorderly, and 
hence not in union. They had not the right spirit, be- 
cause they were intemperate in their eating and drinking. 
They had not the right spirit, because they were unloving 
to the peor; and so they were out of order generally. A 
feast of this description would be more fitting for idol 
worshipers. 

Now, if they were wrong in manner, and not in motive, 
how shall they correct the wrong, and yet accomplish the 
design? PauFs answer is this: "When ye come together 
to eat, tarry one for the other."^* Tarry until all have a 
place at the table; until brotherly love and good will have 
been manifested ; and then, with one heart and mind, unite 
to thank God for the rich provision He made for us, 
and the common tie that He gave to bind us ; and so, giv- 
ing thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. Had the Church at Corinth thus observed the or- 
dinance, methinks the apostle would have praised instead of 
reproving them. 

. Our fourth reason for believing that the Lord's Sup- 
per is a full meal to be observed by the people of God, is 
gathered from the apostles Peter and Jude, in addressing 
the Churches. Peter, in speaking of wicked men associat- 
ing themselves where they ought not, says, "Spots they 
are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own de- 
ceivings while they feast with you."^^ Jude says, "These 
are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with 
you, feeding themselves without fear."^^ 

We here have two more witnesses who testify to the 
presence of wicked men at a feast in the congregations to 
which they were writing. Will any sane man (spiritually 
sane) say they do not? There can be no other construction 



14 1 Oor. xi, 39. i5 2 Peter li, 13. le jude 12. 



186 "Ammi— My People/' 

placed Tipon their words than that there was a feast or 
supper of which such men could partake. Can anything 
be thought more unreasonable than that such men would 
feast upon a morsel of bread and a sip of wine? If wit- 
nesses are worth anything to establish an act or thing, then 
there is the most warranted grounds for our position; and 
three to testify upon the same point, and all agreeing, 
makes a case so strong that no amount of sophistry or 
reasoning can controvert it. 

Further we have found that there is an analogy of law 
in both kingdoms, natural and spiritual. In order to pre- 
serve this union necessity demands a trinity of things. 
The fourth act in creation brought forth a trinity that was 
to sustain life, — sun, moon, and stars. These do not give 
life but they do preserve it. Likewise the fourth act in 
redemption brought forth a trinity that does not sustain 
life, but supports it, — feet-washing, the Lord's Supper, and. 
the communion ; life exists before we come thus far. Here 
also there is a perfect accord in the voices of nature and 
of grace, and never can we be better assured of our correct- 
ness than when we hear the one in the echo of the other. 



THE MANNER OF OBSEEVING THE LORD'S 
SUPPER. 

As THE manner of obeying a command imparts as mucli 
as the command itself, we will investigate still another 
principle in connection with this Supper. History and 
experience teach ns that when men begin to change the 
order of God's house, there is no stopping place. It is the 
leaven of nnsonnd doctrine, which finds no rest until the 
last vestige of faith and practice becomes tinctured with 
it. Christ at one time said, "Beware of the leaven of the 
Pharisees."^ When asked the meaning of His words. He 
said, "Beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees."^ This 
leaven or unsound doctrine had so infected the whole sys- 
tem of the Pharisee's religion that there was little or none 
of its justifying merit remaining. Jesus, when comment- 
ing upon this point, says, "Except your righteousness ex- 
ceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye 
can in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." Can 
there be any good thing come out of unsound doctrine? 
Come and see. The more the Pharisees corrupted their 
religion, the more zeal they manifested in spreading it, 
until the spirit of proselyting drove them to compass land 
and sea in order to make one proselyte, "And after they 
had made him, he was twofold more a child of hell than 
they themselves were."^ Do we not see the same cup full 
to overflowing in our very midst? How true it is that a 
misguided zeal is the most insatiable ! 

In opposition to this leaven or unsound doctrine, we 
now assume the task of proving that the manner in which 



1 Luke xii, 1, 2 Matt, xvi, 12. 3 Matt, xxlil, 15. 

187 



188 ''Ammi— My People/' 

a thing is done contains the purpose and meaning of that 
thing. Among the many innovations and changes that 
men have adopted and established in the order of God's 
house, few have met with so general acceptance as the Sin- 
gle Mode of feet-washing, with the Supper on the table at 
the time of washing, or while the feet are being washed. 
Upon investigation, it is thought that this fact will appear. 
In our eagerness to observe the precise letter of the lan- 
guage, we may unconsciously lose the precise meaning. 
Not that syntax is no guide in determining the meaning 
of a passage; by no means. Generally speaking, there are 
few exceptions to this rule. Yet this one thing we should 
bear in mind, the Scriptures do not come to us in such a 
way as entirely to exclude all other means, as not being 
safe. That our King James translation is not altogether 
true to the spirit of the original, is acknowledged by all 
the noted linguists who have undertaken to examine it 
critically. Again, there are many passages that, when com- 
pared, are of opposite meaning to the original. And the 
Scriptures are written so as to convey, many times, a 
greater signification than is expressed in the words. The 
wise man has said, "It is the glory of God to conceal a 
thing, but the honor of kings to search out a matter."'* 

The authority for the manner of Observing the Supper 
is based upon the following words : "He riseth from sup- 
per." This, it is claimed, locates the Supper on the table, 
or in a served condition, at the time of feet-washing. Upon 
the true meaning of these words we must rely for our guid- 
ance in observing the ordinance. Some of the translators 
have made the phrase read, "While supper was preparing."^ 
In regard to following strictly the syntax, we will note a 
few passages in which we would be at a loss to arrive at 
the facts were it not for the sense to be gathered in other 
parts of the inspired volume. In Isaiah liii, 9, we read, 
"And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich 



4 Prov. XXV, 2. 5 Ben. Wilson Emp. Diaglot. 



Manner of Observing the Lord^s Supper. 189 

in his death." The facts are opposed to the meaning dis- 
closed b}' the syntax. To state the facts as we find them 
in other Scriptures, it should read, "And he made his 
grave with the rich, and with the wicked in his death." 
For the reason, He was laid in Joseph's new tomb, and 
Joseph was a rich man; but He died between two thieves, 
or wicked men. 

Again, "If thy right eye offend thee, plnck it out; and 
if thy right arm offend thee, cut it off."® Does any one con- 
tend for the S3^ntax here ? If so, then let him apply it, and 
learn, to his sorrow, how much he has lost and how little 
gained. Shall we entertain the thought that Jesus meant 
for us to go through this world maimed? no. The 
truth is, this language is symbolical or figurative. He 
that would profit by this holy admonition, let him crucify 
the sinful desire that uses the e3^e to gratify its cravings, 
and the right arm to force its evil might. The only true 
rule for interpreting the Scriptures is always to accept the 
primary or literal meaning unless it conveys an act or 
thought foreign to the speaker or the thing intended. Such, 
it is thought, is the nature of the phrase, "He riseth from 
supper." 

All who contend for and practice this feast of charity 
admit, so far as our present knowledge extends, that it is 
a type or figure that will have its antitype or fulfillment 
in the kingdom of God. On this point it is thought there 
is no division. Then, if it be a type, God has made it, 
and there is no discord in it. Seeing He is perfect. His 
work must bear the imprint of perfection. To do this, 
the type and antitype must agree, and be in harmony the 
one with the other. 

The life of Jesus was the life of a teacher: all He did 
was to give us an example or pattern, in order that we 
might imitate Him by observing His coniniands. In com- 
paring the type and antitype we employ the only sure way 

e Matt, xviii, 9. 



190 "Ammi— My People/' 

of arriving at the true solution of this subject; for thus 
we may see the manner in which Heaven will consummate 
the beginning, as well as tlie end. 

In doing this, the following things present themselves 
in the comparison. First, the preparations are all made 
before the gathering together of the people; second, the 
serving of the feast is not done until all cleansing has been 
finished; third, the reward is not enjoyed until all labor is 
over. These are the main features surrounding this feast 
of love as it has come to us by the words of our Lord. 

The new order of observing the type breaks this agree- 
ment, and produces a most striking discord in the manner 
in which the antitype will be observed. The season of ex- 
amination, watching, and prayer should always precede the 
application of the mxCans of purification prescribed in God's 
word. Feet-washing has been given to the Church as an 
emblem of cleansing; a means by which the outward ap- 
plication of water symbolizes the inward application of 
the blood of Jesus to the soul. This is the power and vir- 
tue of any command, and the only power it can have ; and 
this is quite enough. As our life here is intended to pre- 
pare us for the life to come, so the things to do here, must 
be done in harmony with those that are in the future. 

Serving this feast of love before the labor is done that 
is intended to bring about a fitness to enjoy the feast, is 
not in unison with God's way; and for this reason is un- 
sound doctrine. Again, to serve or bring into view this 
feast of love before sin and sorrow have been put away and 
the principle of good will and fellowship established, is also 
a discord, when compared with Heaven's way. These are 
the striking features that are out of line in placing the 
feast upon the table before the feet are washed. 

Now we do know that the great feast or antitype is made 
ready and prepared : "My oxen and my fatlings are killed, 
8nd all things are now ready.""^ But let us remember the 



7 Matt, xxil, 4. 



Manner of Observing the Lord's Supper. 191 

feast is not served, not 3'et in view, but prepared, made 
ready, and Jesus has said he will do the serving. The 
freedom from sin will not be consummated until all labor 
has been done; will not come into view until peace and 
good fellowship are established among the people of God. 
Is it not clear, then, that wherever a breach in the order 
of God's house has been made, discord and confusion must 
result? We can never be better assured that we are in 
error than when we arrive at an understanding of this 
point. 

We turn again to the Lord's doings ; for they are mar- 
velous in our eyes. The antitype or Last Supper is pre- 
pared : "My oxen and my f atlings are killed, and all things 
are now ready." Come unto the marriage supper of the 
Lamb. But is it in sight ? Not yet. However, the prepa- 
rations are all made, all but the serving. So the people of 
God, when expecting to commemorate that feast, meet at 
the proper time and place after all things have been made 
ready. And when the feet have been washed, happiness 
promised upon the obedience to that command, rich and 
poor, high and low, having served one another, thus estab- 
lishing a feeling of brotherhood and sisterhood, and when 
the tie of love flows full and free, then the feast of love 
comes in view. E'o discord here; type and antitype agree 
perfectly; labor is all done, sin and sorrow are banished, 
and happiness reigns. Again, "it is the Lord's doings, and 
it is marvelous in our e3'es." For this reason the phrase, 
"He riseth from supper," shall not be so construed as to 
destroy the meaning and purpose of the thing intended. 

Our second reason for opposing the supper being on the 
table at the time of feet-washing is founded upon the fact 
that it is not good order in any relation, natural or spir- 
itual. The advocates of this practice would shrink from 
such a custom in their own homes. After having served a 
meal, and seated the guests around the table, they proceed 
to cleanse themselves in order to observe good order in par- 



192 "Ammi— My People/' 

taking of the meal. Is not this one way of again robbing 
God ? Is He not worthy of the best we have to give, be it 
order, courtesy, or otherwise? Hearken, my brethren! 
hath not God ordained His house a house of order; will 
ye, then, make it a temple of confusion? Can we be 
thought consistent when we observe better order in nat- 
ural things than we do in the spiritual? Will it again 
come to pass that in this day, with Pharisaical leaven, we 
will pay more heed to the outside than the inside? We 
shall all do well to heed the Savior^s words, "For the chil- 
dren of this world are wiser in their generation than the 
children of light/' 

Our third reason for opposing this manner of observing 
the ordinance, is drawn from the Savior's language: 
"Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when He Com- 
eth, shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that He 
shall gird Himself, and make them to sit down to meat, 
and will come forth and serve them/'^ This language sus- 
tains the fact that Jesus has promised His followers that, 
in the consummation of this feast of love, the antitype. He 
will again be a servant. Since in every command that 
Christ has given us to obey. He has led the way, showing 
us how to perform the work, and has further promised to 
complete it, we have the most warranted grounds for be- 
lieving that He Himself did the serving when the type was 
introduced. 

There is not a command or ordinance that has been 
delegated to man but God in Christ Jesus will finish or 
end ; as evidence the words vouchsafed to the Apostle John 
while on the isle of Patmos : "I am Alpha and Omega, the 
beginning and the ending, . . . the first and the 
last."^ "These things saith He that is holy. He that is 
true. He that hath the key of David, He that openeth and 
no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth." The 
leading thought in these Scriptures is, as Jesus began the 



8 Luke xil, 37. » Rev. 1, &-11. 



Manner of Observing the Lord's Supper. 193 

work^ so He will end it; as He was the first, so He will be 
the last. Taking the entire subject from beginning to end ; 
comparing the type and the antitype, together with what 
the Savior has said; noting the perfect harmony running 
throughout, — may we not consistently conclude that Jesus 
did serve the first Supper? There is no solution around 
which can be gathered such a harmony of meaning, such a 
consistency of purpose, and such a oneness of design. 

Before we leave the subject, there is yet another thought 
that deserves our attention : The advocates of the principle 
which we here oppose have not only consented to this 
change, but to many others equally adverse to sound doc- 
trine. This spirit of unrest and unstability seems to be 
shaking the foundation of all things not built upon the 
rock of Truth. Departure after departure has been the his- 
tory of all bodies of men, when once they surrender the true 
basis upon which the religion of Christ is built. Paul's 
answer to this spirit of wavering was, "This one thing I 
confess, that after the manner that some call heresy, wor- 
ship I the God of our fathers.''^^ As then, so now, this 
spirit of Pharisaical leaven had not only destroyed the 
virtue of the religion it infested, but blinded the eyes of 
its professors so that they could not and did not know 
w^hat the true worship was. While they called Paul a 
heretic, and no doubt accused him of leaving the Church, 
yet time has proven, as time always does, that they them- 
selves were ignorant of the true way of righteousness. May 
not the words of Christ apply somewhere along this line, 
"They have eyes, but they see not; ears have they, but 
they hear not?" When this condition seizes hold of na- 
tion or people, certain ruin is their destiny. 



10 Acts xxiv, 14. 



13 



THE COMMUNION. 

Possibly there is no ordinance in the house of God so 
full of meanings and around which gathers such depth of 
design and intensity of thought^ as the broken body and 
shed blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, which is 
symbolized in the emblems of the bread and wine, called 
the communion. Whatever has been the understanding of 
men concerning the other ordinances, and the perpetuation 
of them, there seems to be a common consent regarding 
the observance of what is commonly called the sacrament. 
While some who observe it have undertaken to change its 
name, they have not as yet tried to change its meaning. 
The manner and cause of its introduction, the circum- 
stance with which it stands connected, and the words of 
Jesus concerning it, may answer for the almost universal 
aceptance of it by the professing world. 

There is no necessity of saying many words in favor 
of the importance of observing it, but rather may we speak 
of the manner of observing it. The difference in the way of 
observing this ordinance among the religious bodies can 
not be haTmonized with the example of Christ, and so far 
consistency demands that there be an investigation of its 
introduction, in order that the servant may be in accord 
with his Lord. If the example has any power within it to 
teach in one respect, it has the power in all; for, aside 
from this, no example has any merit. Let us notice the 
manner of its introduction. "And as they were eating, 
Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it 
to the disciples, and said, Take, eat ; this is My body. And 
he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, say- 
ing, Drink ye all of it, for this is My blood of the New Tes- 

194 



The Communiox. 195 

tament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."^ 
"And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and 
gave unto them saying, This is My body which is given for 
you; this do in remembrance of Me."^ Likewise also the 
cup after supper, saying. This cup is the new testament in 
My blood which is shed for you.'*^ These Scriptures ac- 
count for the time, as well as the manner, of introducing 
this ordinance, as given to us by those who were eye-wit- 
nesses of the example. As to time, it was in the night. 
The Evangelist John, in recording the concluding scenes 
of that hour, says, "They sang a hymn and went out, and 
it was night." As to manner, Jesus took bread, and gave 
thanks, and hralce it, and gave it to His disciples, and they 
did eat ; and, further, this breaking of bread was after sup- 
per, but in connection with that supper. 

If the example is to have any teaching power — and this 
is the only object of an example — then those who are 
taught must imitate that example. There can be no ex- 
ceptions to this conclusion. Again, if the example is to 
have force in one feature, then in all; otherwise there 
could be no harmony drawn from the example, l^ov can 
it be thought that Jesus is the author of confusion. The 
example is, the bread and v/ine were introduced after the 
supper had been eaten; and to this the Apostle Paul 
agrees : "After the same manner also He took the cup, 
when He had supped."* From this there can be but one 
conclusion drawn, viz. : the bread and wine are not a part 
of the supper, b'lit partaken in connection with the supper. 

Further, all historians of any note, ancient and mod- 
ern, concur in the statement that the first Christians did 
observe a feast of charity, in which the bread and wine 
were used as the concluding service. This feast was called 
in the Greek Agape; whereas the bread and wine were 
called the Eucharist, — proving conclusively that the bread 



1 Matt, xxvl, 26. 2 Luke xxii, 19. 3 Luke xxii, 20. 

*lCor. xi, 25. 



196 "Ammi— My People." 

and wine are not the Lord's Supper. By turning to 1 Co- 
rinthians X, 16, we find that Paul agrees again with this 
thought: "The cup of blessings which we bless, is it not 
the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which 
we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ ?" 
The teaching that Paul received from the Lord was, that 
the bread and wine were not called the supper, but the 
communion; and he further affirms that he taught the 
Church in his day the same thing. 

We now have the united testimony of Jesus, the four 
Evangelists, and Paul, all concurring upon the one point, 
that the supper was one thing, and the bread and wine an- 
other thing. The manner in which a thing is used, goes far 
in determining the purpose of its use. Therefore, as the 
use of the bread and wine was distinct in itself, and re- 
ceived definite emphasis by each of the inspired writers, 
it is reasonable to conclude that they had a special mean- 
ing apart from the supper proper. 

Our second reason for believing that the bread and wine 
are not the Lord's Supper, is based upon the" significance 
attached to them. "Except ye eat my flesh and drink my 
blood, ye have no life in you."^ This language conveys a 
specific defining of the power contained in the bread and 
wine, which does not belong to the meal preceding their 
use. Nor could two things be separated by more radical 
lines as to time and meaning. 

The supper, with the condition of the people of God 
while observing it, is a type which was intended to carry 
the mind forward to the time when the children of God 
shall meet around the Lord's table in the kingdom of God, 
while the bread and wine are intended to carry the mind 
back to Calvary, where the immaculate Lamb of God died 
upon the cross a ransom for sin. And to this the testi- 
mony of Jesus is evidence : "For as oft as ye eat this bread, 
and drink of this cup, ye do shew forth the Lord's death 



&Johnvi, 53. 



The Communion. 197 

till He come." Thus it can be plainly seen that each ordi- 
nance has a distinct and separate meaning in itself, yet 
still remaining inseparably joined. Moreover, there is no 
license to be found anywhere in the Book of Kevelation 
which grants any individual the right to call the bread and 
wine the Lord^s Supper. Jesus, in speaking of the em- 
blems, says of the bread, "This is my body which is given 
for you: this do in remembrance of Me." Likewise, re- 
ferring to the cup after supper. He says, "This cup is the 
new testament in My blood, which is shed for you." The 
Apostle Paul, in speaking of the emblems, says," "The cup 
of blessings which we bless, is it not the communion of 
the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not 
the communion of the body of Christ?" The word com- 
munion is a contraction of the two words, common, union ; 
as the body of Christ was harmoniously joined together, 
so must His mystical body, the Church, be united in faith 
and love, which will produce a union of practice, without 
which there can be no comraunion in the spirit and mean- 
ing of that word. 

Our third argument in favor of our position is drawn 
from the meaning of the supper in the language of the 
Apostles Peter and Jude, which could not be attributed to 
the bread and wdne. Nothing in the use of the bread and 
wine suggests the idea of a feast, as described by the 
apostles in their letters to the Churches. Men can not feast 
upon a morsel of bread and a sip of wine. To call the use 
of the emblems a feast, in any sense, is contrary to the use 
of language, as well as to the purpose and design for which 
these emblems were given. Further, when we consult the 
natural use of words and things, there is discord at once. 
What but disgust could move guests who had been invited 
to a feast, and who, when the hour came for them to par- 
take, should be served with only a small piece of bread and 
a very small portion of wine ? Usage and common consent 
decry this bungling employment of words and of things 



198 "Ammi— My People/' 

that have no meaning. To charge inspiration with such 
flagrant mis judgment, can be none other than blind preju- 
dice. If common language and custom should adopt such 
an interpretation as men place upon the Word of God, 
discord and confusion would reign without bounds. 

In concluding this subject, a few words in regard to 
the time when these ordinances should be observed will, no 
doubt, be found seasonable. If quantity and manner are 
required in order to constitute a legal baptism, then, by 
the same process of reasoning, quantity and time are re- 
quired to constitute a legal supper ; we can as well dispense 
with the one as the other. These conclusions are in harmony 
with the meaning of words as used in common by the Scrip- 
ture writers. When carried into effect they will produce 
no discord or division in any body of worshipers. This in 
itself proves the sufficiency of revelation by precept and 
example. 

The example was given in the night; and for this rea- 
son that feast was called a supper. Jesus introduced it; 
the apostles practiced it; and all agree that it was in the 
night ; and so they call it a supper. Can any lawful reason 
be given for observing it at another time or calling it by 
another name ? Applying to words their true meaning, and 
that with which all are familiar, and it is impossible to eat 
supper in the morning, or dinner at night. Modern cus- 
tom may license the form of eating a meal after midday, 
and calling it dinner; but it remained for religious people 
to murder language to the extent that they could hold a 
feast in the morning and call it supper. Let this outrage 
on the meaning of words have full force, and the scene at 
Babel will be repeated; there can be no escape from this 

dilemma. 

*■ 

Need we wonder that the religious world is divided 
when such latitude is granted in wresting the meaning of 
the Scriptures ? Should the question be asked, "Why be so 
precise ?" let the voice of God answer : "Behold, I lay judg- 



The Commu:n^ion. 19S 

ment to the line, and righteousness to the plummet/^ Ah ! 
has not the God of heaven been ever precise ? If the Lord's 
Passover, the type, must needs be observed at the precise 
time, shall not consistency demand the same in the anti- 
tv-pe; and especially so, since the example has been given 
in that manner ? 

There is still another feature connected with this ordi- 
nance which deserves our attention. The question is fre- 
quentl}^ asked, ^^Why is it that only unleavened bread will 
answer in the use of this emblem?" The answer might 
be, "It was that which Christ used when the communion 
was instituted." And of this there can be no mistake ; for 
it is certain that unfermented bread was always used in 
connection with the Jewish Passover ; and that the disci- 
ples had the Passover in their minds when they prepared 
their feast is evident. But this is not the correct answer. 
There is a deeper significance attached to the custom of 
using unfermented bread. Every one knows there can be 
no fermentation unless impurities are present in the mat- 
ter. Impurity is the cause of the fermentation ; and when 
that cause is absent fermentation can not be present. Then 
it follows that, as the body of Jesus was pure and perfect 
as nature could produce it and a holy life could keep it, 
to undertake to use an impure emblem to represent it would 
destroy the force of the relationship in typical teaching. 
This is law, and this is the order of God's house, and must 
be the order of His people. To this law nearly all the re- 
ligious bodies pay no attention: they seem to have the 
Pharisaical conception of some ceremonials, that if the 
outside looks clean there need be no anxiety about the 
inside. 

Again, when it comes to the wine, the same cause de- 
mands the same result. N"othing but harmony and the con- 
sistent application of law will ever effect the true inter- 
pretation of the Word of God, in either covenant. As all 
the products of the earth have a uniform law by which 



200 '^Ammi— Mt People/' 

they maintain their standard when uninterrupted, so the 
product of the vine has a law by which it will purify itself, 
and this is brought about through the process "of fermenta- 
tion. It may be that, by some artificial means, this process 
can be hastened; but there still remains room for doubt 
whether the article so treated is up to the standard by 
which such things are measured. Those who have made 
it a life study say not; and to this conclusion the writer 
is inclined. The result is, that nothing but the natural 
product of the vine, and the natural application of the 
law which will purify that product, can consistently be 
used in representing the shed blood of our Lord. From 
the use of the expression, ^'^new wine,*' we can gather this 
fact, — the product of the vine was called wine by the Scrip- 
ture writers, and by our Lord Himself, whether it was 
fermented or unfermented. 

The words of Christ in speaking of the act of "putting 
new wine into old bottles, and for that cause the bottles 
would break,"^ implies that the breaking was caused by 
the process of fermentation. Since the bottles referred to 
were made of skins of animals, the first process of fermenta- 
tion exhausted all the elasticity the skins contained. The 
charge made against the apostles upon the Day of Pente- 
cost that "these men are full of new wine,'"' is significant 
as to the effect of new wine upon those who drink it. The 
answer of the Apostle Peter to that charge, was, "These men 
are not drunken as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third 
hour of the day."^ By this we can infer that, while new 
wine would make the drinker drunk, it would not be apt 
to accomplish that result so early in the day. 

Whatever we may be able to gather from this use of 
the word new ivine, or the nature and effect of its use, it 
is evident that there is no reason or- consistency in the 
claim of the modern temperance outcry against the use of 
the pure, properly fermented product of the vine f or^ sacra- 



6 Matt, ix, 17. 7 Acts 11, 13. 8 Acts 11, 16. 



The Communion. 201 

mental purposes. The purer the article, the better is it 
fitted for tlie purpose under consideration; and he Avho 
would be carried away by the taste of it is hardly far 
enough removed from the powder of the flesh to be worthy 
of communing with the people of God. When the princi- 
ple is carefully examined from the standpoint of truth and 
purity, the modern advocates of the use of unfermented 
wine are as intemperate, and possibly more so in many 
other things, — such as carnal indulgences that destroy 
purity of life and the purity of the family, — than some 
who are given to the intemperate use of wine. Intemper- 
ance is the same wherever found; the difference is in the 
license that popular opinion has given to it. The Scrip- 
tures teach that "He that striveth for the mastery is tem- 
perate in all things."^ When men are not willing to keep 
themselves in accord with that principle, then "he that is 
without sin, let him cast the first stone." 



9 1 Oor. ix, 25. 



THE HOLY KISS. 

There may be Scripture whose meaning lies somewhat 
obscurely beneath the language in which it is clothed. In 
such case, care and thoughtful nieditation should be exer- 
cised by the mind before attempting an interpretation. 
Fortunately for us, by far the greater part of Divine Eeve- 
lation has come to us in qualified terms ; and more especially 
is this true when containing a command, thus greatly 
aiding in the correct understanding of the various' pas- 
sages. This being the case in regard to the subject of this 
paper, we are not at a loss what to do. The authority for 
observing the salutation of the kiss as a Church ordinance 
is founded upon the following Scriptures : "Salute one an- 
other with a holy kiss.^'^ "Greet one another with a holy 
kiss.^^^ "Greet ye one another with a holy kiss."^ "Greet 
all the brethren with a holy kiss."* "Greet ye one another 
with a kiss of charity.''^ 

There can be no mistake as to the meaning of the Scrip- 
tures referred to, nor as to the manner of obeying them. 
Upon this point there need be no contention. Should the 
question arise as to the authority of giving such a com- 
mand, the answer is at hand: it was by the authority of 
inspiration, vested in man; by which God spoke to man 
through man. The entire Mosaic covenant was based upon 
this manner of authority; there is not a command, from 
Genesis to Revelation, that did not come in this way. The 
law from Sinai was not the word of Moses, but of God. 
IsTor do any of the prophets claim to be the author of the 
messages which they delivered. Jl was the Spirit speaking 



1 Rom. xvi, 16. 2 2 Cor. xiii, 12, s 1 Oor. xvl, 20. ^Thess. v, 

6 1 Peter v, 14. 

202 



The Holy Kiss. 203 

through them. In like manner the Gospel, which was de- 
livered by the mouths of the apostles, is not claimed as 
originating with them, but as the testimony of the Spirit 
spoken through them; for "The testimony of Jesus is the 
spirit of prophecy;" "God who at sundry times, and in 
divers manners, spake in times past unto the people 
through the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto 
us by His Son." Hear the apostle upon this point: "For 
I certify you, brethren, that the Gospel which was preached 
of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, 
neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus 
Christ."^ Shall it now be^sked by what authority Paul 
gave the command unto the Church? If we accept his 
teaching in one instance, will it not hold good in another ? 
By refusing to obey the command for want of authority, 
upon the same ground we can set aside the Scriptures from 
the Day of Pentecost. 

It is strange how man wilh undertake to impeach the 
teaching of revelation in things wherein a sacrifice is re- 
quired. To evade certain things somewhat distasteful to 
their refined feelings, the}^ proceed to set up the claim that, 
as the Church was not fully established until after the Day 
of Pentecost, all that was done before that time is not bind- 
ing. Others there are who claim that, as Jesus is the only 
authority we have in spiritual things, all that the apostles 
enjoin is lacking in authority. These conditions are not 
imaginary, but real ; and, as such, what will we really have 
if they are accepted ? Nothing. By submitting the Scrip- 
tures to the opinions of men, we can in one broad sweep 
annul them totally. And in the face of this conflicting and 
all but annihilating testimony, they still claim to be Chris- 
tians, when, by common consent, they ignore the law that 
would make them such. What must be the long-suffering 
patience of God to endure such a degree of mockery from 
rebellious man? For answer we quote, "Vengeance is 



6 Gal. i, 11, 12. 



204 "Ammi — My People/' 

Mine, I will repay, saith the Lord." There can be no 
grounds for discussion here. It is the prerogative of God 
to command; and the choice or nature of that command 
lies not within the premise of man to determine. Nor can 
an individual circumstance be found where the faithful 
servant of God ever stopped to exchange words as to 
whether he should obe}^ or not. It is honor enough for him 
to be permitted to do his Lord^s bidding. This is the life 
of a true servant throughout the dealings of God with man. 

Out of this doubting, disbelieving, denying mass of 
fleshly religion comes the worst form of idolatry the world 
has ever known. This is indeed a sad state of affairs; but 
there is 3^et a darker side to the picture. Not being satis- 
fied in deceiving themselves, they seek to convert the 
heathen to an idol of their own making by calling it an- 
other name. The voice of the truest servant of which the 
world has knowledge, was, "I came not to do Mine own will, 
but the will of Him that sent Me.'' In response to this we 
hear the man of Tarsus exhort, "Let this mind be in you 
that was also in Christ Jesus." When the people manifest 
a disposition to obtain such a state of mind, then will the 
Lord again say, "Ammi, My People." There is in this 
case no room for opinion; there is no room for choice; in 
short, there is no room for anything but self-denial and 
humble submission to the will of God. And this the people 
of God ever did, and ever will do. 

The world has many forms of salutation, differing ac- 
cording to custom and occasion, both ancient and modern, 
and none, we think, is so common among the people of this 
nation as that of the kiss. The mother greets her new- 
born babe with a mother's kiss, such as none but a mother 
can give. It greets us upon the threshold of life, and lin- 
gers upon our lips when cold in death, and none but the 
giver can know and feel its worth. It comes to us in life 
ere we are conscious of it, and lingers with us through all 
life's trying scenes. It accompanies us in our dreams, and 



The Holy Kiss. 205 

brightens the coming of the morning. It endears us to 
friends in our parting, and comforts us again in our meet- 
ing, with a fullness of emotion which can be felt but not 
expressed. The kiss ! — a token of love that binds human 
hearts and souls, the one to the other; an endearment of 
feeling and sympathy through lifers sorrows as well as its 
joys; conveying by an outward act the mutual pledge of 
an inward response of two hearts beating upon, the same 
chord, the chord of love. This is the kiss of true friend- 
ship. It can be said that this manner of salutation, in 
many instances, lacks the right qualification. It can also 
be said that the best things of life are subject to the closest 
counterfeit. We can only speak of the real and the true; 
let those who pass the counterfeit answer for the crime. 
Better by far give no kiss than be guilty of passing a coun- 
terfeit; for the act of counterfeiting is dangerous work in 
every sense. It was the betraying kiss of Judas that added 
insult to injury, and showed the depth of iniquity into 
which man may plunge his soul through the love of money 
and ungodly gain. 

So far we have been dealing with the kiss of friendship. 
The kiss of fellowship means that, and more, — a sacred- 
ness to which this world is a stranger, as a world. Jesus 
said to His disciples, "Ye are my friends, if ye do what- 
soever I command you.^' From the manger to the cross 
there could exist no stronger tie than friendship ; and that 
tie, however strong, is many times easily broken. It was 
not long after those words of Jesus were spoken until a 
test was made; and, lo, all His companions fled and left 
Jesus alone; and this is the friendship that the world 
knows, and the strongest tie it can know ; but it is human. 

Fellowship is divine, in the sense in which we meet it 
in the Scriptures. The Scriptural meaning of the word 
is contained in the language of Paul : "That I might know 
Him and the power of His resurrection; and the fellow- 
ship of His suffering, being made conformable unto His 



206 "Ammi— My People/' 

death. "■^ This is the fellowship of the suffering of Christ, 
which unites those who pass the holy kiss, or kiss of charity. 
As the suffering of Christ was confined to all the functions 
of His body, so must the kiss of fellowship be circumscribed 
within that limit. It was this fellowship of the suffering 
of Christ, and the desire of the apostles to be partakers of 
it with Him, that bound them so closely to Him after they 
knew its meaning ; and this they could not know until the 
power of the Spirit revealed it to them; and this could 
not be accomplished until the promise was fulfilled. Friend- 
ship may bind, but fellowship unites. Friendship springs 
from love, fellowship is its consummation. Friendship 
sympathizes in loss; fellowship is a partner, partaker of 
that loss. 

There is a human fellowship as well as ,a Divine fel- 
lowship, a natural love and a love for the spiritual. The 
spiritual can not exist without the natural, but the natural 
may exist without the spiritual. The common acceptance 
of the words, Charity and Love, leaves only the terms de- 
fined, with the greater half of the meaning untouched. 
Nothing can throw a more deceptive mask over the true 
meaning of a term than to transpose or magnify the nat- 
ural beyond its meaning. The language of the apostle is 
to the point: "Though I speak with the tongues of men 
and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sound- 
ing brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the 
gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all 
knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could 
remove mountains, and have not charity, I am 
nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the 
poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have 
not charity, it profiteth me nothing."^ N'o sharper line 
can be drawn between the natural and the spiritual, the 
human and the Divine. By contrasting the one with the 



i Phil, ill, 10. 8 1 Cor. xiii, 1. 



The Holy Kiss. 207 

other, their full meaning stands forth in such a manner 
as to be easily understood. In the absence of love for God 
and His Word, all other knowledge or wisdom is as sound- 
ing brass, as empty as the Tartar's prayer-mill. Our giving 
shall profit us nothing, w^hether it be of goods or money, or 
even our bodies as a sacrifice, when estranged from the love 
of God. 

What, then, is the love of God, and what shall we do 
in order to show that love? To love God is to love His 
Word, and His Word is in His Son. His Son has said, "If 
ye love Me, ye will keep My commandments, and he that 
loveth Me not keepeth not My words." Need we any fur- 
ther instruction ? Or shall we seek a way to escape, where 
there is none ? God must and will have our first love, if 
any lasting good is to come from our being in this world. 
Upon a sincere love for God and His commandments is the 
kiss of fellowship founded. Because of the connection of 
the kiss with charit}^, or love, have we been led to this 
elucidation of the meaning of the word from the Scriptural 
basis. 

There is nothing in this world but that is entitled to a 
claim ; for nothing was consulted before it came here ; it is 
here from cause, not from choice. This is the logic of in- 
heritance, and needs no proof. There is, however, a form 
of claim which is acquired, and necessarily demands 
proof for its right as a claim. There was a time in the his- 
tor}^ of the world when the act of being in possession of a 
thing was sufficient to establish the right to claim it. That 
law in material things was not good; it produced conten- 
tion and discord. Was it because the law was not good? 
No ; the trouble was, the law was wrongly applied. Apply 
the law to the immaterial, and it will be found good. No 
individual has a right to what he does not hold in his pos- 
session. Many claim everything, when, in fact, they pos- 
sess nothing. Here we are called to prove all things, and 



208 "Ammi— My People." 

the only possible way to do this is to obtain possession of 
them. 

The kiss of charity as described in the Scriptures is an 
appropriate manner in which the people of God prove the 
fellowship which is based upon love^ and that they are in 
possession- of it. The co-operating principle of love has 
manifold ways of demonstration; but none are more full 
of meaning than the salutation of the kiss. The attribute 
holy, as applied to it, lends a significance above human 
friendship or human fellowship. It links it to that which 
is sacred and divine; it imparts to it a union with the 
eternal love and fellowship. As the kiss is a binding pledge 
in earthly ties, so the lioly kiss is a binding pledge in heav- 
enly ties. If the kiss of Judas was to betray Christ, the 
holy kiss is to bind us to Him and to one another, — an out- 
ward manifestation of the inward attestation to be faithful 
to our covenant with God and one another in preserving the 
fellowship of love built upon the suffering of Christ, in 
which was established Christian brotherhood and sister- 
hood. Though we are supported by the hope of a glorious 
resurrection, the basis of tkat hope lies in the fellowship 
of His suffering. Here is the fullness of the salutation 
which is enjoined upon the people of God ; a token of bind- 
ing love the one to the other ; a tie that binds in life's con- 
flicts, sorrows, privations; inseparable in life or death, 
liberty or bonds; the one and everlasting fellowship with 
Him for whom, if we suffer, we shall also reign. Let us, 
then, keep the ceremony sacred and secure, endeavoring al- 
ways to manifest in the act that purity of feeling on which 
the holy greeting rests. 

It is a question in which some speculation has been 
indulged as to the right the people of God have to pass 
this greeting to those who are not in fellowship. It is ob- 
vious that there can be no holy kiss, or kiss of charity, 
where there is no fellowship. Nothing but a mutual faith. 



The Holy Kiss. 209 

prompted by a mutTial love, founded upon the pure teach- 
ing of the Word of God, can establish holiness. When 
these are well secured, then may be observed the salutation 
of the holy kiss, by having established a holy fellowship. 
This is the limit and privilege of the kiss of love for God 
and God^s people. 



14 



PEAYER. 

"Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as it is 
in heaven/' is the consummation of all the prayers that 
have gone to the Throne of Grace since "God was mani- 
fested in the flesh."^ This prayer, which Jesus Christ 
taught His disciples to pray, mentions our every need. No 
one so well as this Teacher knew our needs. There is none, 
however dear to us, so near and dear as He. None can 
feel for us as He felt for us ; to His interest in our behalf 
v/as His own interest sacrificed. In order to help us He 
submissively endured the times of grief when there was 
none to help Him; and in the darkest hour of mental an- 
guish, when men for hate spurned His kindness, came 
forth from that Fountain of Love the tenderest of prayers, 
"Father, forgive them, they know not what they do."^ In 
this act of Divine mercy we are taught that there is no 
remorse so deep that our Lord has not felt it; there is no 
sorrow so bitter that He has not tasted it; there are no 
trials so hard that He has not endured them ; and when to 
all of these are added the sins of an ungodly worlds the 
spirit of prayer in Him who alone could say, "Father," 
showed itself the most tender. 

Could the world have been taught a more" divine prin- 
ciple of love and mercy ? What a sublime ending of a life 
so sublimely lived ! The meaning and beauty of the char- 
acter of the Son of God can only be seen in its true light 
when compared with those for whom it was lived. While 
comparison brings out the beauty and force of the charac- 
ter of the Master, it also points, with unerring certainty, 
the index finger toward the servant. If the life of the 



1 1 Tim. iii, 16. 2 Luke xxili, 34. 

210 



Prayer. 211 

Master was a life of prayer, shall not the life of the serv- 
ant be likewise? We have been kindly admonished, that 
the servant should not be above his Master, yet as kindly 
encouraged that he may be as his Master. If there be any 
Divine attribute that should excel in. the servant, it should 
be the spirit of prayer. It was upon the power of prayer 
our Lord relied; in every trying hour was this tested; nor 
was it without its fruit. As it was the Master's resort, so 
has it been the city of refuge for all the faithful in ages 
past, and is now, and will be in ages to come. The power 
of pra}^er has never been measured. Many times has it 
been tested, but so complete has been the victory that faith 
has claimed yet more. 

The heavens and the earth have bowed in answer to 
prayer. Prison Avails have trembled, and iron gates of 
their own accord have opened in response to prayer. Fire 
and sword have not yet conquered prayer. The lion's crav- 
ing for blood has been stayed by prayer. By the voice of 
prayer death has been mocked, and the grave robbed of 
its victim. The faith and comfort built upon prayer have 
been the supporting staff of the people of God in every 
affliction. Jesus gave to the world the worth of prayer in 
the hour of temptation. What meaning hovers around 
that all-night prayer in which our Lord engaged! What 
comfort and consolation has faith enshrined in the words 
of the poet, 

" Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer, 
Thy wings shall my petitions bear !" 

There is no sweeter hour in life to that soul who faith- 
fully trusts in God than when the knee is bowed in suppli- 
cation to its Maker. Who can but admire the invitation of 
the psalmist when he breaks forth in the words, ^^0 come, 
let us worship and bow down : let us kneel before the Lord 
our ]\Iaker ?"^ Nor is it the privilege only of the strong and 



« Psalm xcv, 6. 



212 "Ammi— My People/' 

the great; by no means. "Unto that man will I look, even 
unto that poor man who is of a broken heart and contrite 
spirit, and trembleth at My word."* The counsel of the 
apostle is, "Pray without ceasing, and in every thing give 
thanks."^ These Scriptures encourage us to pray; they 
are the promptings that lead to prayer. "Lord, Thou hast 
heard the desire of the humble; Thou wilt prepare their 
heart. Thou wilt cause thine ear to hear."^ "For thine eyes 
are over the righteous, and thine ears are open unto their 
cries." "^ Here is the assurance given to all the sincere peti- 
tioners before the throne of God that their cries are not in 
vain; for the God who has said that we should call, has 
likewise said, "I will answer." Because of the fullness of 
this promise, there is great danger of its being abused; 
here is where we shall make a fatal mistake unless we are 
careful in watching. Many have erred at this point, and 
hence our Lord has said to us,. "Watch and pray." 

The power contained in prayer is not in the petitioner, 
nor in his words, but in the one receiving the petition; 
nevertheless, in order that we be found consistent in our 
praying. Heaven has vouchsafed instructions - to us. "The 
Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all them 
who call upon Him in truth."* "And when thou prayest, 
thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are; for they love to 
pray standing in the synagogue, and in the corners of the 
streets, that they may be heard of men. . . . When 
thou prayest enter into thy closet, and when thou hast 
shut thy door, pray to thy Father in secret; and thy Father 
who heareth in secret, will reward thee openly. . . . 
A¥hen ye pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathen do."^ 
"If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God. . . . 
But let him ask in faith, not wavering."^^ "Draw nigh 
unto God, and He will draw nigh unto you. Cleanse your 
hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double- 



*ilsa. Ixvi, 2. 5 1 Thess. v, 17. « Psalm x, 10-17. 1 1 Peter iii, 13. 
8 Psalm cxlv, 18. s Matt, vi, 5, 6. lo James i, 5. 



Prayer. 213 

minded; humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and 
He will lift you up."^^ 

That the Father of mercies is ahyays ready to hear, 
we are assured; hut that we are always in the right condi- 
tion to approach Him is not so clear. If our hands and 
hearts are not, at the least, measurably clean through a 
true motive and honest purpose; if, while asking, we are 
yet but half-way believing, we have no guarantee that God 
will hear our petitions. If we come before our God in 
pra3'er, and yet desire to be heard of men; if we seek to 
advertise our false piety rather than acknowledge unto 
God our unworthiness, then will our supplication be in 
vain and an idle mockery: "^'Let not that man think he 
shall receive anything of the Lord.^^ 

Again, should we continue to ask God for wisdom when 
we are not willing to practice what we already know, we 
are but asking for a thing which we refuse to accept when 
offered. Xor is it expedient that we make many words in 
prayer; at this point we all fail when measured by the 
counsel of Heaven. How necessary it is that we watch 
here ! AYhatever our desires or intentions may prompt us 
to do, we can not go beyond the limit of the law. The 
words of Christ are not without meaning upon this point. 
If in our zeal we become breakers of the law, the history of 
the past tells us plainly that we do then but weary God; 
and our prayers and spreading of hands, instead of being 
acceptable, are "a stench in His nostrils." After having 
done all that we can in order to come to God aright, there 
is still one thing to be remembered, — that only through the 
name of Christ can our prayers enter heaven; unto Him 
who purchased us by His own blood is the power given. In 
that name, and through that name, the name of Jesus, 
"Every knee shall bow, an*^ every tongue shall confess that 
He is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.''^- Prayer is 
not only a privilege, but a duty. "Ask and ye shall re- 



11 James Iv, 8. . 12 Phil, ii, 10. 



214 "Ammi— My People/' 

ceive ; seek and ye shall find ; knock and it shall be opened 
unto you/^^^ Prayer is an obligation that we owe to God 
in honor to Him for His willingness to assist ns. In true, 
submissive prayer we show oiir dependence and trust in 
God; by bowing before Him we adore His worthy name, 
and also confess our unworthiness and dependence upon 
Him. For only to those who in truth feel their weakness 
has He promised to give help and strength. That the 
ever-present and all-knowing God is conversant with our 
needs, even before we approach Him, we are assured in the 
words of the Savior; but we, too, should know and feel 
the need of His mercies in order that we may rightly ap- 
preciate the Giver as well as the gift. ■ 

There is a twofold meaning in our supplicating a 
Throne of Grace. It is only through a mutual understand- 
ing that prayer becomes sacred and beneficial. Further- 
more, at the time when we feel and know our needs, even 
then it may not be within us to know how to rightly ask 
that they may be supplied : "For we know not how to ask 
for the things that we need, but the Spirit maketh inter- 
cession for us, with groanings which can not be uttered. 
And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth the mind of the 
spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints ac- 
cording to the will of God."^* This is one of the most 
comforting thoughts connected with prayer. What true 
heart is not always assured of its unworthiness before that 
throne, and its inability to plead its cause aright? To all 
such comes the blessed assurance that the Spirit knoweth all 
things, and is therefore ready and willing to help. We 
need never fear that our wants will be rightly presented, 
providing it only be that our wants are necessitous. It 
may happen in life that we want much that we do not 
-need; and here our Lord has instructed us to watch. It 
may be from the lack of watching that many prayers are 
not answered. "Watch and pray," is the command to all 



13 Luke xl, 9. 1* Rom. viii, 26, 27. 



Prayer. 215 

who would pray aright; and especially the present condi- 
tion of our surroundings demands imperative caution in 
our petitions to God. It has been said that "the prayer of 
a righteous man availeth much." May we not at once con- 
clude that a righteous man is watchful in his praying? 
The act of praying has a distinct feature apart from all 
other service of God. In exhortation, we speak in God's 
behalf ; in preaching we speak for God, or in Christ's stead ; 
but in the act of praying we speak face to face as it were 
with God. If we were at all times conscious of this fact, 
our prayers would contain fewer words and more meaning. 
True prayer is clothed in mystery and answered in a 
miracle. The things we pray to God for lie beyond us, or 
beyond our power to control ; beyond the material and the 
natural ; hence those things belong to the supernatural ; and 
for God to answer our prayer must necessarily embrace a 
miracle. In this miraculous circumstance attending 
prayer we are given the reason why we should pray, as also 
why we should be watchful in prayer. The things that 
we know and can do, God expects us to do. When He asks 
us to do things which lie beyond our power it is to give 
Him an opportunity to help us. This is the true meaning 
of prayer, and as well the true manner of praying. 

Again, there is something more that we can learn in 
regard to the relation between prayer and miracle. Man 
is not a stranger to this mysterious power in prayer; he 
feels and seems to realize the source from which it comes, 
as well as the cause by which it comes. But in trusting, 
here is the test of faith, and man, when called to face that 
test, has many times found himself doubting. Zacharias, 
the priest, was told that his prayer was heard, but doubted 
because of the miracle embraced in the answer. In silence 
he paid the penalty of his doubt. The Church was praying 
for Peter's deliverance, but doubted the answer when it 
came, because of the miracle performed in order to grant 
the answer. Not that all men have doubted, but all men 



216 "Ammi— My People/' 

have not the same degree of faith. Thus we see the de- 
mand that is made upon ns when we attempt to pray ; and 
Avere it not for the principle of faith the demand could 
not be made, neither the prayer answered. Up to this point 
the lines are closel}" drawn, and the means that attend snc- 
cessfnl praying are bounded by three immovable princi- 
ples, — faith, mystery, and miracle; faith answering to 
miracle, miracle answering to prayer, and faith and pra3^er 
the things hoped for. 

Whenever and wherever man has fonnd an opportunity 
to exercise faith and prayer, he has at the same time found 
a fertile field for his imaginative powers, which, once re- 
lied upon, are almost boundless. Imagination, commonly 
speaking, is one form of deception wherein the deceived and 
the deceiver are the same person; and hard indeed has it 
ever been to get such a man to see he is false to himself. 
The spirit of x\ntichrist has always stood confounded in 
the presence of a miracle. It was God's last and most pow- 
erful witness to the truth, and not until this witness shall 
meet its duplicate in the hands of the spirit of Antichrist 
will its testimony be weakened. It is needless to say that, 
in reality, this is impossible. Nevertheless, when the spirit 
of presumption is fed by the power of imagination, and 
both are kindled with the fire of deception, to what bounds 
it may go, God only knows. The world needs to wait no 
longer to see the beginning of this lying wonder, basing 
its claim in the power of prayer. To mock God has been 
Satan's highest ambition; but the attainment of that end 
through prayer he has modestly left to his servants. The 
devil has, in one thing at least, been honest, — in purpose 
he has never deceived himself, but glories in the power to 
deceive others; as evidence the prophets of Baal in their 
cry to him for testimony. 

Here is a most striking evidence of the power of imag- 
ination over the human mind, when once under its con- 
trol. When deception once clothes itself with prayer. 



Prayer. 217 

prayer being so closely related to miracle, then shall the 
spirit of Antichrist be able to cause fire to come down from 
heaven in the sight of men, and, if it were possible, de- 
ceive the very elect. The miraculous power to deceive 
through prayer lies within the imagination of ,the pos- 
sessor, which leads him to believe he is doing God's service. 
This position is verified in the language of Paul: ''For 
God will send them strong delusions that they may believe 
a lie." The depth of iniquity into which man may plunge 
when God withdraws from him is apostasy; but who can 
measure the depth of blasphemy into which he will descend 
when God sends delusions to lead him on? How like a 
magnet does this bewitching power increase as it approaches 
the base of its origin ! Even now we hear of this boasted 
claim to work miraculous healing through the power of 
prayer, forcing presumption to the point of claiming equal- 
ity with Christ, in being able to heal both soul and body, 
through a false science, antagonistic to the principles of 
Christ in every claim it makes ! Can there be any good 
come out of a thing so grossly in opposition to truth? 
Grant that there are cases wherein this power seems to be 
effective ; can there be any other conclusion than that it is 
a God-sent delusion, in order that those who will sow such 
seed may reap an abundant harvest? When this wave of 
Antichrist; driven by Satanic presumption through the 
principle of prayer, shall have wrecked the nations upon 
the sands of destruction, then can the people of God, with 
their King, mock in derision. 

Strange as it may seem, the more dead the service, the 
louder and longer the prayers have been. This is the his- 
tory of all false religions, from serpent worship to sun 
worship ; from the calf in Egypt to Diana of the Ephesians. 
Our richest- blessings are the most abused, and our most 
sacred privileges are the least esteemed, and, vainly striv- 
ing to obtain the reward through unsanctified service, man 
presumes to rob God and Christ of their power. The spirit 



218 "Ammi— My People/' 

of boasting and self-exultation through which this deceiv- 
ing monster is bewitching the uninformed is itself enough 
to teach all discerning minds the source from which it 
comes. The true servants of God have ever moved in the 
opposite direction. 

Through a delusive, false spirit of prayer, the house of- 
Jacob received condemnation from God. After breaking 
the law and forsaking the commandments of God, they yet 
added to their sin the rebellion against God; and, being 
deceived by their own imaginations, worshiped gods of 
their own making. Ever and always should the warning 
of our Master be fixed upon our minds, "Take heed that no 
man deceive you." 



MANNEE OF PEESENTING THE BODY BEFORE 
GOD IN PRAYER. 

"0 COME^ let Tis worship ; let us bow down ; let ns kneel 
before the Lord our Maker." In these words the servant 
portrays the spirit of his Master, and not nntil the wor- 
shiper partakes of the attributes of the thing worshiped, is 
he made better or worse by his service. A religion that fails 
to accomplish this in its professor has no power over him, 
either for good or evil. This is the work of any religion; 
and when it fails to produce anything to benefit the pos- 
sessor it is as though it were not. To profess a religion, and 
not possess the power of it, proves one of two things, — 
either we are false to our claim, or the religion is false. 

The foregoing conclusions establish this fact: the re- 
ligions of men have no power or merit above that which 
lies in m^an ; for the reason that no stream can rise higher 
than its source. This teaches us that, to supplicate a 
throne where power is limited and imperfection an at- 
tribute, the petitioner must present his wants within the 
compass of that throne. At this point the Christian relig- 
ion is beyond comparison. He who lived it, and gave His 
life to sanctify it, and rose again by the power of it, has 
promised to all who will labor to possess it the same vic- 
tory. For unto the Author of the Christian religion has 
been given all power, both in heaven and in earth, and be- 
yond this there can be no conception of want. If the ob- 
ject of our worship be perfect, it is but reasonable to ex- 
pect that we shall be partakers of that perfection. This 
places the dignity of the religion of Christ as high above 
all that earth can offer as the heavens are higher than the 
earth. Why, then, should sinful and imperfect man refuse 

219 



220 ''Ammi— My People/' 

to bow before a throne whose King is perfection, and whose 
crowning attribute is love? Would it not be far more con- 
sistent for all minkind to consider even the privilege to 
how before that throne as an unmerited favor ? 

That those who profess to live the Christian religion 
should refuse to bow while in its service, is evidence that 
they are not thankful to its Author, nor for the privilege 
given them to live His religion. That the natural is the 
image of the spiritual is as true here as anywhere along 
the path from earth to glory. Very sensibly was this felt 
and proven by the holy men of God in all dispensations; 
even those who lived in the presence of the shadow felt the 
sacredness of the right to bow down in reverence to Him 
whom they adored. 

How much more should we, then, feel like bowing when 
in the presence of the substance ! If it was meet for them 
to bow, it is thrice becoming in us. What depth of mean- 
ing is expressed in the words of the prophet, ^^The per- 
petual hills did bow."^ The heavens and the earth have 
bowed in the presence of their Maker. Kings of the earth 
and their subjects, wise men and the unlearned, high and 
low, have bowed together before the great I Am. The 
more earnest their petition, the more humble was their 
position, until, prostrate upon the ground, they cried unto 
the God of comforts. If the servant is not greater than 
his Lord, why should he refuse to imitate his master ? 

Man, being a composite organism, necessarily demands 
a twofold environment; and this demand is answered in 
the natural and the spiritual. The body is the index by 
which is shown the effect of that environment ; and so truly 
can the character be read from that index that there can 
be no possible chance of mistake. It is the outward or ex- 
ternal that indicates the inward or internal. As the orange 
indicates the quality of the tree upon which it grows, so 
the fashion of the body reveals the spirit within, — "For by 



Hab. iii, 6. 



Presenting the Body Before God in Prayer. 221 

their fruits shall ye know them/'^ A haughty spirit will 
no more indicate itself in a bowing body than a humble 
spirit in a haughty body ; for they are eternal opposites, and 
separated by a gulf impassable. There can be no better 
reason given for us to bow than this; for the life that Jesus 
lived in the body of flesh was wholly given to consecrate 
this purpose. When the spirit and mind seek to prove 
their humility, they must use the body to demonstrate it. 
When the king exercises the authority vested in him, he at 
once places his body upon the throne; nor has he a right 
to exercise his authority until his subjects are assured of 
that fact. Humility of spirit and mind can be taught only 
through the act of humbling the body, and bowing is the 
act which Heaven has approved and taught to the children 
of men. Our Savior bowed before the throne of His 
Father; and His disciples have imitated Him in all their 
service since, and will continue to do so until finally "every 
knee shall bow, of things in heaven and in earth and under 
the earth ; and every tongue shall confess that He is Lord, 
to the glory of God the Father." 

How fitting it is that a humble master should have a 
humble servant ! And in no way can the servant prove 
fidelity to his master than by imitating him. When view- 
ing the worldly religious bodies of the present time, we do 
not wonder so few observe the practice of bowing when en- 
gaged in prayer. It would be inconsistent for them to bow 
after having adorned their temples and bodies with all that 
fleshly pride can contrive or invent. The spirit of their 
worship forbids them to bow, as evidence the priestcraft 
from Pharisee to doctor of divinity. "Like priest, like 
people," is an old saying, but a true one. The words of 
our Lord are very significant upon this point : "Make the 
tree good and its fruit good, or else the tree evil and its 
fruit evil." Not that there is no time w^hen we can pray 
standing; there are some special seasons of service when 



2 Matt, xii, 33, 



222 "Ammi— My People/' 

to stand in prayer is more fitting than to bow ; but this is 
an exception, and not a rule. 

^or is this all that we learn in connection witli the 
presenting of the body in prayer. When we consider the 
minuteness of detail in which the Master has instructed 
the servant that he might be accepted in His service, we 
can but adore the simplicity of the means of salvation, 
and with the psalmist of old exclaim, "It is the Lord's do- 
ings, and it is marvelous in our eyes." With what tender- 
ness of feeling the apostle admonishes his brethren con- 
cerning the presenting of their bodies before God in prayer ! 
^^I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, 
that ye present jout bodies a living sacrifice, holy and ac- 
ceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."^ The 
thought "<2 living sacrifice/' is overflowing with meaning; 
not a dead sacrifice — that belonged to the letter — but a liv- 
ing one, being quickened by the spirit, the spirit of self-sac- 
rifice, wherein the body, having been dead, is again living 
by the power of the Spirit through faith in Christ Jesus. 
But what testimony can the spirit give of this quickening 
power in the absence of any evidence of a change of mind ? 
As long as the flesh is the controlling factor in presenting 
the body, it can not be living; but is, to all intents and 
purposes, dead, because of the absence of the spirit. And 
if the mind be not changed, there can be no change in the 
sacrifice; hence the whole service is dead, with the prayer 
included. "For to be carnally minded is death." 

How long it will take the nations to learn that the out- 
wear d is but the product of the inward, and that an unholy 
body is not controlled by a holy spirit, we know not; but 
this one thing should appear plain to all, that an acceptable 
prayer can not be offered through an unholy body ; and the 
body is unholy so long as it remains conformed to, and in- 
dulges in, the sinful practices of this world. Eeligious pro- 
fessors may not stop to consider this seriously; in fact. 



3 Rom. xii, 1-3. 



Presej^ting the Body Before God ix Prayer. 223 

give it any consideration; nevertheless, the fact remains as 
fixed as revelation. 

Xor is this all. In further support of what has been 
said we refer to the language of the Apostle Paul to the 
Church at Corinth, where he makes explicit demands con- 
cerning the manner of presenting the body in prayer. "But 
I would have you know that the head of every man is 
Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the 
head of Christ is God.^^* "Every man praying or prophesy- 
ing having his head covered, dishonoreth his head."^ The 
position taken by the apostle is plain. There can be no 
mistake here, unless opinion rebels; but opinion has no 
right to speak at this point; the facts are as clearly ex- 
pressed as could well be. Light is not what we need now, 
but a mind that is willing to walk in the light. The way 
from earth to glory is not nearly so dark as men would 
have us believe. Who can not grasp the meaning of "Every 
man praying or prophes3dng having his head covered, dis- 
honoreth his head?" Xone but the abnormal mind, and 
that is not responsible. 

The substance of what the apostle has said is, that a 
man who prays having his head covered dishonoreth Christ, 
who is the spiritual head of the man; and by so doing dis- 
honoreth God, who is the spiritual head of Christ. Can it 
be thought that a king could consistently answer the prayer 
of a servant who had dishonored him ? How easy it is for 
us to stand in the way of our own petition! And how 
small an act is required to cast a reproach upon Heaven ! 
Men who sit in time of prayer with their heads covered, 
have no knowledge of the gravity of the offense, or feel no 
shame in dishonoring God. 

Again, it is proven that the outward, or natural, is the 
index of the inward, or spiritual. This principle further 
teaches us that, if the natural be not properly presented, 
there is no means of reaching the spiritual. 



*10or. xi, 3. aiCor. xi, 4. 



224 "Ammi— My People/' 

Again, "But every woman praying or prophesying with 
her head uncovered,- dishonoreth her head."^ At this point 
the demand is reversed ; and here opposition grows stronger, 
and opinion has endeavored to annul tiie w^ords of the man 
of God. When a body of people arrive at the point where 
they have no regard for the law by which they claim to be 
governed, they are then without law; and a religion that 
knows not law can not, in any sense, be called Christian. 
The statement of the apostle in the introduction of this 
chapter fixes the authority of this Scripture, beyond dis- 
pute. "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.""^ 
Can we charge the apostle here of superfluity? Shall we 
conclude for this one time that his words have no meaning ; 
or if we accept them as having a meaning, that he permits 
us to determine what that meaning is? If so, by what 
authority can we determine the force of any other Scrip- 
ture? Let us stop guessing and surmising, and coine to 
the point where we at least can show that we have some 
desire to be honest with the apostle, if not with ourselves. 

There are two reasons why we must accept the demand 
of the apostle. First, if Paul was following Christ, these 
words are by the authority of Christ; second, the apostle 
was writing by inspiration, which is by the authorit}' of 
the Spirit ; and this is the only authority claimed by reve- 
lation. To ignore this injunction is to treat revelation 
with contempt. By what authority can any individual lay 
claim to serving Christ when, at the same time, he casts 
aside the teachings of the Spirit? However opposed the 
religious world may be to this conclusion, they have not the 
power, by reason or logic, to overthrow it. 

We return to our subject. As a man praying liaving 
his head covered, dishonoreth Christ, his spiritual head, and 
in this also dishonoreth God; so the woman who prays or 
prophesies with her head uncovered commits the same of- 
fense. The question may be asked, "Is the man the spirit- 



eiCor. xi, 5. t i Oor. xi, 1. 



Presenting the Body Beeore God in Prayer. 225 

ual head of the woman, as Christ is of the man?" By no 
means. What, then, are we to understand by the expression, 
"The head of the woman is the man ?''^ In answer we saj^ 
as God is the spiritual head of Christ in relation to au- 
thority, so is Christ the spiritual head of man in the same 
relative sense as to authority. Man is the head of the 
woman in natural things, for the reason that woman was 
taken out of man. Man in this relation is the source 
through which woman reaches her spiritual head, Christ. 
"For in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female."^ 
This brings the same responsibility upon the woman who 
prays unto God having her head uncovered, as upon the 
man when he prays with his head covered. The result is 
the same, while the means are opposite. This is what the 
apostle has said, and this is what he means; if not, his 
words have no meaning. Howbeit many will say, the cover- 
ing here referred to implies the hair, and not an artificial 
covering. This is denied in the strongest terms in which a 
denial can be urged. If language and words are suscepti- 
ble of being wrenched and twisted into as many different 
meanings as the ingenuity of man may invent, then far 
more consistent would it be to cast the whole structure of 
Heaven aside, .and let every one build an hypothesis to suit 
himself. Better is it, many times over, to make no pre- 
tensions of serving God than to mock His word by pretense. 
That the hair of the woman was given to her for a cov- 
ering is readily admitted; but that this covering is only 
for the natural woman must be as readily admitted. Like- 
wise the hair was given to man for a covering; in both 
cases the hair is the natural covering for one as well as for 
the other. If man must pray unto God uncovered, could 
he remove that covering every time he engaged in prayer? 
(The righteous man ought to pray at least three times a 
day.) The thing is absurd, utterly absurd, from any point 
of view, and all the reason and sophistry that man may 

8 1 Oor. xi, 3. 9 Gal. iii, 28. 

15 



226 "Ammi— My People/' 

invent can never abate the absurdity. It then follows, as 
sure as day follows night, that an artificial covering is 
what the apostle has under consideration, — one that can be 
placed or displaced at will. This brings us to the case of 
the woman; if she prays unto God uncovered, she dishon- 
oreth her spiritual head, Christ, and by the same act dis- 
honoreth her God. 

By parity of reasoning, if the hair is not the covering 
referred to concerning the man, neither can it be in refer- 
ence to the woman; as evidence the apostle's language in 
the sixth verse: "For if a woman be not covered, let her 
also be shorn.''^^ For a woman to be shorn, signifies the 
removing of her hair; then if the hair is the covering in 
question, a woman could not be uncovered so long as she- 
retained her hair. But the apostle says, "If she be not 
covered, let her also be shorn." Could a woman be shorn 
of her hair that had already uncovered her by having been 
removed? Or, in other words, how could an uncovered 
woman be uncovered ? We have arrived at the point where 
we have nothing, just where all men have arrived, and will 
arrive, when they attempt to wrest God's Word from its 
meaning. Wise men of this world often cry out '^Mystery/* 
when confronted with the Word of God; but give them 
their way, and mystery would be multiplied until revela- 
tion became a meaningless mystery. The truth is, the 
apostle is consistent and fair, without either discord or 
mystery. In his reasoning he has respect for both law 
and creation. 

"For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, inas- 
much as he is the image and glory of God; but the woman 
is the glory of the man. For the man is not of the woman, 
but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created 
for the woman ; but the woman for the man."^^ Here the 
apostle reasons upon law, natural law, a law established in 
creation, in which man is the image and glory of God ; but 



10 1 Cor. xi, 6. n 1 Cor. xi, 7-9. 



Presenting the Body Before God in Prayer. 227 

the woman is the glory of the raan, in the natural relation. 
As man is subordinate to Christ, so is woman subordinate 
to the man, when the law of God is held sacred. Man un- 
covers his head in time of prayer, in honor to God who 
glories in him. Woman, who occupies a dual relation 
through all this natural life, covers her head in honor to 
man, the glory of God, as well as in. honor to God, or 
Christ. This twofold relation occupied by the woman, if 
not the most sacred safeguard, of social purity, is at least 
one of the most sacred. 

Woman is, first, the glory of the man, and her long 
hair is given her as an emblem of that glory, as also a 
token of submission; secondly, through man she becomes 
the glory of God, for she is a part of man. She has a two- 
fold glory in another sense, — as wife she is the glory of 
man; as mother, the instrument that sustains life, she is 
Godlike, hence the glory of God. There can be no glory 
without an emblem. There is one glory of the sun, — his 
brilliancy, denoting power; there is another glory of the 
moon, — her modesty in ruling the night; there is another 
glory of the stars, — their courtesy company when the earth 
is wrapped in silence. And so the psalmist declares, "The 
heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shew- 
eth His handiwork.^^ Woman has her emblem of glory; 
her long hair, — "It is a glory to her." When she removes 
that emblem, she removes her natural glory, and dishonor- 
eth man, her natural head. Should man consent to wear 
his hair long, in the manner of the woman, by so doing he 
would dishonor the woman by an attempt to imitate her 
glory, which makes him false to the law of God and a rob- 
ber of the woman. 

"Doth not even nature itself teach you that, if a man 
have long hair, it is a sliame unto him? But if a woman 
have long hair it is a glory unto her : for her hair is given 
her for a covering."^^ Here the apostle sustains the posi- 



i21Cor. xl, 14, 15. 



22S "Ammi— My People." 

tion, that the long hair of the woman is her natural glory, 
and an emblem of significance to man; hence it is a shame 
for man to imitate it. This is the first glory of the woman ; 
her second glory consists in being also the glory of God or 
Christ, her spiritual head. If a woman is entitled to a 
twofold glory, to be consistent, a twofold emblem is de- 
manded. Since her Creator ordained the one, Her Re- 
deemer demands the other. Woman being the weaker, 
needs double support in order to fulfill her calling. In 
grateful submission to nature's demand, she wears the em- 
blem of her glory, her long hair. If she lawfully fulfills 
her natural calling, she is then worthy of her spiritual; 
and as a token of submission to her spiritual head, 
Christ, she places an artificial covering upon her head as 
an emblem of glory, in token of that power. 

What woman, whose life is pure, would not willingly 
imitate Mary of old, who, after having learned love at the 
feet of Jesus, bathed His weary feet with tears, and wiped 
them with the glory of her head? Think you, dear 
reader, there is no meaning in this act ? There is indeed, 
and a sublime one. The Man Christ Jesus receives the 
honor of the glory of this woman, through the wiping of 
His feet with her hair, the emblem of glory. The King of 
Peace, Christ Jesus, receives honor from the woman for 
having given peace to her seed; and, as a token of this, she 
wears the emblem of peace upon her head, an ensign of 
glory. Again nature and grace are in accord, the one 
answering to the other ; the only incontrovertible evidence 
that any people can have that they are the people of God. 

There is yet another reason the apostle gives for a 
woman covering her head in time of prayer. "For this 
cause ought the woman to have power on her head because 
of the angels."^ ^ In his effort to inform the Church in 
relation to this demand, so as to be correctly understood, 
this man of God spares no pains in behalf of the Church. 



13 1 Cor. xi, 10. 



Presenting the Body Before God in Prayer. 229 

Again he separates this covering from that of the natural 
hair by the most rigid lines, "because of the angels," — an- 
other cause separate and apart from that of submission to 
her head or lord. The thought conveyed in the expression 
is, that her prayers be not hindered. There can be no need 
of prayers when there is an obstruction to hinder them 
from being answered. A very important barrier may arise 
from the condition of the petitioner ; and this is the thing 
the apostle is laboring to remove. The mission of angels is 
to guard God^s people and administer to their w^ants. "Are 
they not all ministering spirits, sent out to minister unto 
those who shall be heirs of salvation?"^* A most endear- 
ing work in this calling is to bear the prayers of the faith- 
ful to the throne of God. The woman praying unto God 
with her head uncovered, dishonoreth her Lord; and con- 
sequently the angels can not bear her prayers heavenward. 
By dishonoring her head, she dishonoreth her body; for it 
is the head that must wear the crown, be it thorns or glory. 
Thus we find a most beautiful harmony running through- 
out the entire plan of salvation; each has its place, each 
has its power, and each has its glory. 

Having established the necessity of a covering, the 
question arises. Of what shall that covering consist? We 
dre never at a loss to answer a Scriptural question, pro- 
vided we remain upon Scriptural grounds; for it is held 
here, as well as elsewhere, that the Scriptures are their own 
interpreter. While they do not directly say what we shall 
wear upon our bodies, they do directly tell us what we shall 
not wear. Knowing that the Author of our salvation is 
perfect, it is but the part of wisdom to conclude that the 
means are perfect, as well as the manner of applying those 
means. And further the apostle assures us that we are 
complete in Him. In answer to the question as to the 
kind of covering worn, some say it should be a veil. The 
reason for this answer is that wearing veils was the custom 



uHeb. i, 14. 



230 ^'Ammi— My People/' 

of women anciently. That the custom of wearing veils 
was observed among the women in all dispensations is ac- 
cepted without opposition. The sacred writers frequently 
speak of it. Eebekah and Euth, with many of the Jewish 
women, wore veils; history, both sacred and profane, re- 
cords the fact. E'er was the custom confined to one class of 
women. Some wore them to conceal their faces for mod- 
esty's sake ; while others wore them to conceal their shame 
and lewdness. In both cases the covering, or protection, 
was called a veil. 

There is another connection in which the use of a veil 
is spoken of. Moses put a veil upon his face in the pres- 
ence of the people in order to conceal the glory thereon; 
and Paul says the same veil remaineth untaken away from 
the Jew, in the reading of the Scriptures to-day. There 
was a veil which separated the outer court from the inner, 
the Holy of Holies, behind which none passed but the high 
priest alone. When Christ was crucified, this veil was rent 
in twain from the top to the bottom. In every case where 
a veil is spoken of in the Scriptures, the object of its use is 
declared to conceal something. The apostle's reasoning is 
directly in opposition - to this. The thing which he de- 
mands is to show forth something; to declare something, 
not to conceal. The ancient veil was worn in order to con- 
ceal the glory or virtue of the wearer; what the man of 
God is pleading for, is something that will show the purity, 
virtue, and glory of the wearer. From this it can be clearly 
seen that the apostle did not mean that the covering spoken 
of should constitute a veil. 

There is a point in the argument of those wdio contend 
for a veil, which we wish to notice. They do not contend 
for the veil because of the virtue they see in it, because a 
veil can be as easily used to hide a lewd woman as a pure 
one. The object of their contention is to establish the point 
that the apostle was referring to an ancient custom, upon 
that ground hoping to make his language void, and by so 



Presenting the Body Before God in Prayer. 231 

doing set aside the command. This is the sum and sub- 
stance of their argument ; for if they see virtue in the veil, 
and the apostle meant that covering should be a veil, they, 
by their own practice, destroy their argument, and show- 
that they are not sincere in that for which they contend. 

Further, the only purpose for which a veil was or is 
worn, is to protect the face; this done, the object of its use 
is effected. Now, the apostle has not spoken a word con- 
cerning the face ; he is speaking entirely of the head. While 
the face belongs to the head, it in no sense can support 
the meaning of the Scripture under consideration. It 
must now be clear to the teachable mind — and that is the 
only mind we can hope to reach — that the apostle's lan- 
guage has no reference to a veil. What, then, can he mean ? 
By attentive reading Ave may discern. "Doth not even, na- 
ture itself teach you ?" Let us search in order that we may 
find what nature has to say in her teaching. Nature says 
the hair was given to the woman for a covering; and Paul 
so understood her teaching, and accepted it while speaking 
by inspiration. Here nature has proved herself a most 
useful teacher; her example is — and she always teaches by 
example — ^that nature's covering stops where the face be- 
gins ; thus completely setting aside the idea of a veil being 
the covering that the apostle had in view. Again, letting 
the spiritual bear testimony in accord with the natural, 
the use of a cap, for the head only, answers to nature's 
example ; analogy of the law is sustained in both kingdoms, 
and we catch the meaning of one from the echo of the 
other. 

How exceedingly secure is that foundation when heaven 
and earth unite to sustain it! 

We now have the covering, as well as the form of that 
covering. Let us again search, and, in searching, we may 
find of what material it should consist. The same apostle 
at one time used the following language : "There are, it 
may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of 



23^ ^'Ammi— My People/' 

them is without signification."^^ The voice of God in 
creation and in the garden had its meaning. The voice on 
Sinai had a deep significance. The earth quaking and the 
sea roaring have their meaning. The voice of the turtle- 
dove is full of meaning. The voice of Eachel weeping for 
her children had a most impressive significance; and what 
significance is in the voice at the sound of which the dead 
shall come forth. It is not the loudness of the voice that 
conveys the greatest meaning. The still small voice brought 
Elijah to the mouth of the cave, when the earthquake 
failed. The voice of the muffled drum gives warning of a 
fallen comrade. The death sentence upon the wall spoke in 
louder tones to the king Belshazzar than the voice of his 
thousand lords. The darkness that surrounded the cross 
added much to the mournful cry of Jesus. The blackness 
of the cloud betokens danger before we see the lightning's 
glare. When we behold the whiteness of the fields, we 
know that harvest is nigh; so forcibly does it speak to us 
that we can not be mistaken. The while flag in the midst 
of battle speaks with more significance than a thousand 
vollies of musketry. And thus it is that many of the most 
significant voices are spoken to us in silence. For who 
can measure the voice of the grave ? 

And this is the voice of the covering that the woman of 
God should wear upon her head in time of prayer, — a voice 
of peace and an emblem of glory, in honor to her Lord, the 
King of Peace, — glory being the fruit of peace; peace the 
fruit of purity ; purity established upon righteousness ; and 
righteousness the inheritance of the saints who are clothed 
in white. Could anything be more appropriate than a 
plain white cap worn by the woman of God in time of 
prayer? Using white for a base, all colors are produced 
through adulteration; but none are pure, purity having 
been lost by mixing. Have not the people of God been con- 
sistent in choosing a white cap for the emblem of purity 



15 1 Cor. xiv, 10. 



Presenting the Body Before God in Prayer. 233 

and glory which the woman should wear? N^or can any- 
thing of a different shade be substituted for it. It not only 
fulfills the demand, but is the only thing that can fulfill it. 
It is the emblem that represents the attribute of heaven and 
happiness. 

There is one thing more to be determined concerning 
this covering: when shall it be worn? Were it not that 
some who believe in the necessary use of it, have, in using, 
abused it, there would be no room for the above question. 
The apostle, in introducing the subject, defines its use. 
It shall cover the head of every woman in time of praying 
or prophesying: this is its office and mission, and it can 
not go be3^ond that, nor can anything be substituted in its 
place. Whatever man may use to cover his head, that cov- 
ering must be removed when he is engaged in prayer; but 
this does not in any sense grant to the woman the latitude 
to cover her head with any manner of covering that con- 
venience may supply. 

As only unleavened bread can fitly represent, in em- 
blematical use, the body of Christ, so nothing but the white 
cap can suitably represent the covering for the woman. The 
house of God is a house of order ; when order is maintained, 
peace and holiness reign; and without this, "no man shall 
see the Lord," says the apostle. Good order indicates that 
when it is the duty of the man of God to uncover his head, 
it is then the duty of the woman of God to cover her head. 

Seeing that this divine institution is so basely abused 
through neglect, we feel like offering a few more thoughts 
upon the subject before concluding, if but as a warning to 
the people of God that they be not also carried away in 
the mad current of unbelief. It has been asked, "If the 
hair is the natural covering for the natural woman, when 
that natural woman turns to God she is then no longer 
natural but spiritual ; in consequence of which does not the 
hair become the spiritual covering of this spiritual 
woman?" On its face this question seems to carry both 



234 ''Ammi— My People/' 

reason and logic; but, upon examination it will be ob- 
served that an answer can easily be found within the 
bounds of reason. Granting this question to be rational^ 
it must apply to the man as well as to the woman; which 
brings us to face an impossibility, where we can find noth- 
ing but empty void. Again, the question has been asked, 
"Was there ever a prayer answered that came from the 
lips of an uncovered woman?" The answer is. Yes; as- 
suredly yes. Then why demand the covering? On the 
most reasonable grounds in the world. Our greatest need 
in this world of darkness is light. And this light was man- 
ifested in the gift of God's Son, who is the true light which 
lighteth ever}^ woman that cometh into the world. If from 
an honest heart we ask God for liglit and wisdom. He leads 
us to His Word, wherein the Holy Ghost teaches every 
woman that, when she prays, she shall cover her head. 
This is the Word of God, and this is the light; and this is 
the only light we have upon this point ; all beside is dark- 
ness. Up to this point God will make His promise good in 
giving the sinner light; but should we refuse the light 
when given to us, and choose darkness rather, we have no 
further promise that God will hear and answer our prayers. 
N"o prayer can reach the throne of God save through the 
name of Christ Jesus. When we refuse to honor that nancte 
by rebelling against His Word, we are standing as a hin- 
drance to our own prayers. 

In conclusion, we wish to say to the reader, be not 
hasty to cast away the terms of salvation, the means that 
Heaven has ordained to accomplish that happy end, the sav- 
ing of your soul. We may not here, in this world of dark- 
ness, partly blinded by our own transgressions, be able to 
comprehend the way of life in all things that pertain 
thereto ; but is it not enough when Jesus and holy men say, 
"This is the way, walk ye in it, and you shall find rest unto 
3' our soul?" Though we now see through a glass partly 
darkened, — by and by, if we are faithful, we shall see face 



Presenting the Body Before God in Prayer. 235 

to face, and know as we are laiown. If we can not believe 
the Word of God we can not have faith ; and without faith 
it is impossible to please God. The world may not accept 
the simplicity of redemption now, — in fact, it will not, but 
rather mocks and scorns and persecutes the people of God, 
— but can it not, even now, hear the words of the Savior, 
"Blessed are you when men shall revile you, and speak evil 
of you for My name's sake?" Then, dear reader, should 
you be a sister among the people of God, despise not your 
calling, nor the manner of it; yield submissively to the 
teachings of the Word of Truth. You can. have no better 
companion in life, nor a more blessed comforter in death. 



ANOINTINGS THE SICK WITH OIL. 

'^Is ANY among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any 
merry? let him sing psalms. Is any sick among yon? let 
him call for the elders of the Church, and let them pray 
over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord."^ 
Upon this Scripture is based the authority for anointing 
the sick with oil. The apostle was giving instructions to 
the Church, telling them how they should possess their 
souls in the various conditions in which they were likely 
to find themselves. The natural world and all it contains 
are alike subject to the effects of time. The law that gov- 
erns creation is one law; and all creatures bow to its un- 
bending will. Time differs only from eternity in that 
time is measured. Time began when creation began, when 
it was said, "The evening and the morning were the first 
day.'^^ All created things were made good, and very good, 
by reason of the perfection of the Creator. It was not said 
that creation was perfect, but good, — denoting comparative 
development. Created matter could not be eternal, because 
of its beginning. The only meaning this world has ever 
had of the word "Eternity" is, "without beginning and 
without end." Time being a measured portion of dura- 
tion, establishes the fact that, by and by, that measure will 
be full, and time shall be no longer. This teaches us that 
time is imperfect, and associated with death; for death is 
the necessary result of imperfection, and the necessary end 
of it. 

That all nature is subject to dissolution is evidenced on 
every hand in the universal struggle for existence. Every 
particle of life in the natural world is sustained by a corre- 

1 James v, 13, 14. 2 Gen. 1, 5. 

236 



Anointing the Sick with Oil. 237 

spending loss of life in another field, in proportion to the 
value of that life. If, then, that which survives is sup- 
ported by perishing substance, the inevitable conclusion is 
that, by and by, the survivor will also succumb to some 
higher demand, as it can not possibly draw from any fac- 
tor more than it contains. This is the universal and un- 
changeable law of creation, by Divine appointment; nor 
could there have been a better law to govern a natural 
world, or world of time. So long as law is respected, there 
is no penalty; but when once it is broken, vengeance cries 
out for justice. Had not man, the king of the earth, be- 
come a law-breaker, neither he nor his subjects would have 
been subject to a penalty. In every case, when the king 
errs, his subjects suffer. For this mortality became in many 
degrees the more mortal, and dissolution was hastened by 
the sting of disease through transgression. ^^If the sting 
of death is sin,^^ then the sting of sin is disease; the one 
answering to the other, echoes throughout the bounds of 
creation ; and onward upon the wings of time are we borne, 
with increasing diseases, because of increasing sins; and 
Death, the reaper, stands waiting, with drawn scythe, to 
cut the harvest down. 

Here, again, two principles from the same cause com- 
bine to establish with unerring certainty the result of nat- 
ural law. This subject is one of the most abused with 
which we have to deal in our present age. There seems to 
be no end to the presumption of men and women in their 
efforts to prostrate law and defy the decrees of Heaven. 
Hence we should build cautiously and securely. 

We return to our subject. By following man from the 
time he took his departure from Eden, his history teaches 
us that, as sin increased, disease increased, and the length 
of years was shortened. Upon Noah, the survivor of the 
flood, was this notice first served : "My spirit shall not al- 
ways strive with man, for that he is flesh; yet his days 



238 '^Ammi — My People/' 

shall be an hundred and twenty years."^ Sin was the 
cause of this shortening of man's days; though a hundred 
and twenty years was God's allotted time for man to live 
upon the earth we find that, by righteous living, he was 
able to extend that time to a greater number of years. 
Terah, the father of Abraham, lived to be two hundred and 
five years old. Abraham lived to the age of one hundred 
and seventy-five years. 

That the condition of long life is based upon pure and 
virtuous living is well supported in the Book of Truth. 
The law that God gave to the house of Israel contained 
such wholesome instructions, by way of ordering the man-" 
ner of living, that a purer nation of people in body and 
mind the world has never produced. Not until those laws 
were broken did disease and mortality lay their deadly 
hands heavily upon the people. What is true of this na- 
tion, is true of every nation upon the earth. The final 
destiny of man and mankind, here and hereafter, hangs 
upon one cord, and that cord is transgression. It was the 
keynote in the garden of Eden, and leads in the scale to- 
day; and will continue to do so as long as man is sur- 
rounded by temptation. In evidence of this, we have but 
to turn to the time when temptation shall be banished and 
the effect of sin and disease is no longer felt, — ^the time 
when the lion and the lamb shall lie down together; when 
thorns and thistles shall no longer grow, and blasting dis- 
ease be felt and feared no more. Then shall righteousness 
cover the earth, and peace flow as a river. We have now 
laid the foundation upon which we expect to build in eluci- 
dating the subject of anointing the sick with oil. 

This life is not all shadow and despair. In fact, there 
is no good reason why the people of God should let the 
shadows and clouds encountered in life's journey, bedim 
the path they have chosen to travel. In sunshine and in 
shadow the birds sing, the trees bloom, the flowers give. 



3 Gen. vl, 3. 



Anointing the Sick with Oil. • 239 

with outstretched arms, their precious fragrance; each 
gives all it is, and all it has, to brighten ever}^ passing mo- 
ment. Shall man be dumb and silent? Shall he refuse, 
above all else, to give what he has and what he can to 
sweeten life and being ? If not, then let him sing psalms ; 
let him imitate the man of God, the sweet singer of Israel ; 
let him, from the depth and fullness of his being, respond 
in praise of Him whose mercy endureth forever. "Let him 
sing praises unto God while he has his being." Let him 
not sing songs that give no honor to God; for, as he has 
been created to sing, the purpose is that he shall sing songs 
that will honor Him who has formed all things to His 
glory. 

How applicable are the words of the sweet singer of 
Israel when, in prophetic language, he asks, "How shall 
we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?'^* With the 
same stress of propriety may we now ask. How shall the 
people of God sing a strange song in the Lord's land ? If we 
must watch in prayer, we must also watch in praise. For 
this reason the apostle says unto him that is merry, "Let 
him sing psalms."^ But though the sun shines and the 
birds sing, the flowers bloom and all is May, there are 
times when the storms come, the frosts kill, the winds blow, 
and melancholy reigns. Life's cares grow heavy, its sor- 
rows bitter; temptation gathers; losses, disappointments, 
afflictions, — all unite to darken the way. We feel the ever- 
increasing burden as our strength grows less, and our spirits 
faint. Still added to this all but immovable load comes 
disease in all the multiplied forms to which flesh is heir. 
This is affliction in its fullest sense ; the time when we need 
strength and grace; the time of prayer. This demand the 
apostle meets, and says, "Is any afflicted, let him pray.'"^ 
N'ot that we should entertain or lend S3'mpathy to all the 
petty cares of life, especially those of our own; but many 
there are so real and true that we can not evade nor over- 



* Psalm cxxxvii, 4. 5 James v, 13. « James v, 13. 



240 . "Ammi— My People/' 

come them; in such an hour, we need prayer and feel the 
worth of it. 

This life is greatly what we make it. We can not guard 
too closely the contracts we make under the law ; for settle 
we must, and many times with interest often compounded. 
It is not alone in dollars and cents that parents may con- 
tract a debt for the children to pay. Glad indeed would 
they ofttimes be were the price so easily paid. In all this 
we need support beyond the limit of things on earth, and 
only to Him who can part futurity's veil, and help us to 
see rightly and build for time to come, can we go for sup- 
port. This is man's extremity, but God's opportunity; and 
His promise is to the afflicted that He will deliver them: 
^^Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the Lord 
delivereth him out of them all.""^ To whom shall the sheep 
look if not to the shepherd? Can he not supply their 
wants? He can, and hence the psalmist says, "The Lord 
is my Shepherd, I shall not want."^ The people of God 
have no wants that their Shepherd can not fill ; and He al- 
ways "tempers the wind to the shorn lamb.^' 

But whilst there are afflictions and promises of deliv- 
erance, there is also chastening, and patience is recom- 
mended; in our haste to be delivered we may forfeit our 
better opportunity for development. There is no school 
whose graduates are so fully prepared to fight the battles 
of life as those of the school of affliction; they hold a 
diploma that is good in eternity, as well as in time. Afflic- 
tion is the only school that is able to bring mankind to 
its highest development, because of the reality of its les- 
sons; they are practical, and apart from theory in the 
strictest sense. The noblest characters that the world ever 
knew were children of affliction. Take from history, sacred 
or profane, the characters that affliction has produced, and 
few there are that would be worth the time it would oc- 
cupy to read about them. May it not, then, be true that 



7 Psalm xxxiv, 19. 8 Psalm xxiii, 1. 



Anointing the Sick with Oil. 24rl 

we often miscalculate our best opportunities? With this 
evidence of the worth of affliction^ shall we not rather con- 
sider it a blessing than otherwise? The following words 
of the poet appeal strongly to our better interest : 

" Good when He gives, supremely good. 
Nor less when He denies ; 
Afflictions from His sovereign hand 
Are blessings in disguise." 

Our prayers in affliction should be not so much for de- 
liverance as for grace and strength to endure, that in the 
end we may be partakers with Him who was glorified in 
His affliction ; and that affliction was unto death. We have 
at last arrived at the solution of affliction, and' have found 
the key that will unlock its secrets and explain all its mys- 
teries. Life is that state of consciousness which is bounded 
on one side by the memories of the past, and on the other 
by a line sharply drawn between the separate passing mo- 
ments. We little think that every coming moment is a 
stranger to us, and ofttimes leaves before we can become 
acquainted. We go as did Abraham, not knowing whither, 
save that by and by we shall reach the end of our race. 
We may not be able to write our history; life bears us 
along at such a rapid speed our minds can not grasp the 
incidents nor the accidents. But the finger of time and the 
recording angel let nothing pass unnoticed; and only in 
that day when the Book of the Eemembrance of God shall 
be opened, will we be permitted to read what has been writ- 
ten. Death is the sentinel that marks the period of our 
history, and permits us to pass to the scenes beyond. N'at- 
uralJy speaking, disease and sickness are the forerunners of 
death; at least, this is the course of nature's law. How- 
ever, there are many instances in which the law has not 
had its course, save in this : that it stands ready to claim 
all that life can no longer hold. From the apostle's stand- 
point of view, the anointing is not for the afflicted, but for 
16 



242 "Ammi— My People/' 

him that is sich, and when that state of sickness is nigh 
unto death. This is the only reasonable conclusion that 
can be drawn from the text. That the anointing is the last 
rite to which the servant of God can yield obedience in the 
name of the Lord in this life, is certainly embodied in the 
Scripture referred to. Jesus said of the woman, "She has 
come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying." This 
being the last provision that Heaven has ordained for the 
remission of sins, naturally associates it with the closing 
hours of life, and should lend solemnity and sacredness to 
its observance ; and in this state of mind the people of God 
have always approached the performance of the rite. 

While with all the ordinances of the house of God the 
remembrance of sin, as well as the forgiveness of sin, is 
connected, there seems to gather a more tender and close 
remembrance of sin, as also the most comforting promise 
of forgiveness, around the anointing. The severing of 
earthly friendships and the ties that have bound us to- 
gether in joy and sadness; the solemnity that accompanies 
the passing of the river of death, — all tend to clothe the 
hour with emotions unutterable. How wise are all 
Heaven's ways, and how consistent are all the means pro- 
vided for the salvation of man ! When from age or disease 
our strength grows weak and our sun of life is setting, 
with yet some work undone, how fitting it is to call for 
others to help us ! This is the time when the apostle would 
say, "Let him call for the elders of the Church; and let 
them pray over him, anointing him with oil, in the name of 
the Lord."^ 

Blending together three in one, symbolizing the Holy 
Trinity, they unite in mutual prayer of faith in behalf of 
the needy. The people of God who have, by virtue and 
purity, honesty and uprightness, endeavored to lead a life 
of service to God in obeying all His commands, when 
brought upon a bed of sickness, have the blessed assurance 



9 James v, 14. 



ANOi>fTiNG THE Sick with Oil. 243 

that even then "God will make that bed in sickness."^*^ 
Upon submission to, and faith in, this last means which 
God has given in order to remove sin, we all can be made 
whole. This is salvation, and the heirship of heaven, es- 
tablished in innocenc}^ We could not desire more, nor 
Heaven be satisfied with less. It is here that the man of 
God and the God-man meet, to consummate one mutual 
faith in the divine sacrifice. 

While the leading thought in the Scripture is the for- 
giveness of sins, there is still another promise vouchsafed 
in connection. "And the Lord shall raise him up." This 
is the rock upon which many have split, — the master-wneel 
of a combination of theories revolving upon the shaft of 
unbelief, {he friction of which has generated a current so 
powerful in the minds of the operators that they would 
have us believe that disease is but an imagination, sickness 
a myth, and death a back number. Nothing but doubt and 
disbelief can prompt any individual to enter into such a 
speculative explanation of the inspired Book; and the un- 
avoidable result must be that they will find nothing in the 
end but confusion. 

There is no principle more immovably fixed by the nat- 
ural working of law than that disease is the result of trans- 
gression. The adm.onition of Jesus to some whom He healed 
was, "Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon thee.'' 
The issue then is. What is the design of this anointing? 
Is it for the remission of sins, or for the restoration of the 
body? The answer is of the gravest importance because 
we must know the reason for obeying a command before 
we can have the proper faith in the act ; and that our faith 
should be well grounded in all our service, is sustained by 
the words of the apostle, "Whatsoever is not of faith is 
sin."^^ It is not the part of wisdom to build faith upon 
anjrthing that is not well established. In order to a secure 



10 Psalm xU, 3. n Rom. xiv, 23. 



244 "Ammi — My People/^ 

basis from which to starts we will arrange this question in 
the form of three propositions : 

1. The primary object of all the ordinances of the 
house of God is to perfect the spiritual man, not the 
natural. 

2. Nowhere in the teaching of Christ or the apostles are 
the spiritual things recommended for the natural, but the 
natural for the spiritual. 

3. Every command given in order to perfect the spir- 
itual contains a consequent or secondary means to perfect 
the natural. 

Within the scope of these propositions lies this entire 
subject; and in proving them we will elucidate the sub- 
ject fully. 

The natural or carnal mind must be arrested before we 
can believe, "The natural [or animal] man receiveth not 
the things of the spirit."^^ The natural sight must be 
abandoned before we can walk by faith : "For we walk by 
faith, and not by sight."^^ Christ's teaching was: "For 
judgment am I come into the world, that they which see 
not might see, and they which see might be made blind.''^* 
There can be no conversion unless the natural undergoes 
a radical change: "The things I once loved I now hate." 
Baptism is not for the cleansing of the body, "But for the 
answering of a good conscience toward God ;'' wherein, also, 
the natural becomes dead. Had feet-washing, as an 
ordinance in the house of God, been for the natural, 
Judas would have been clean : "Ye are clean, but not all." 
The Lord's Supper is not for the feasting of the body : "If 
any man hunger, let him eat at home." The communion 
purposes nothing but death for the natural : "This is My 
body, which was broken for you." 

We have now proven the first and second propositions 
to be true. God's ways are ways of righteousness, and all 
His paths are paths of peace ; and every command He has 



12 1 Cor. li, 14. 13 1 oor. v, 7. i* John Ix, 39. 



Anointing the Sick with Oil. 245 

required ns to obey is enjoined in righteousness. When 
tlie body has been made a servant unto righteousness, will 
not the life be pure, and hence necessarily purify the body ? 
Let the nations practice purity in their living, and the so- 
called Christian Science eccentricity will have nothing 
whatever to sustain it. The boasting of science, and the 
discovery of laws not heretofore known to the minds of 
men, is but fox-fire in the swamp, and needs but the true 
light to pass it into nothingness. Eight living is more than 
a match for many of the diseases that surround us. Eight- 
eousness is the watchword; deny that principle and God 
will again say, "Lo, Ammi — Not My People." 

How much the return of the younger son would have 
helped to sweeten the life of his elder brother had he will- 
ingly joined in the merry-making with his father and serv- 
ants! How sweet would have been once more the ]iome 
family ties, if all had been again united! But the elder 
brother was angry, and would not go in to the feast. So 
do we all many times mar our lives and weaken our bodies 
by our wrong doing. 

The answer to the question, "For what do we anoint?'' 
must be, "For the forgiveness of sins." This is the direct 
and primarj^ purpose, and upoii this our faith must rest. 
For if it should be considered that the restoration of the 
body is meant, then in answer to our prayer and the promise 
made good, death would have' to be suspended, and there 
would be a subversion of law which God has not designed. 
This "raising up" can only refer to the resurrection of the 
just in the day of the Lord Jesus, when He shall come to 
collect' His own from the four quarters of the earth. Let 
it be remembered, however, that when we realize the com- 
forting thought of a removal of the last as well as the 
least vestige of sin, with the happy assurance of being at 
peace with God and man, often, and very often, the mind 
receives such solace that the body becomes a partaker of 
the comfort, and finds rest in sleep and repose. Herein law 



246 ''^Ammi— My People." 

manifests its work, and nature, accepting the assistance 
of this auxiliary, sets to work in building again the wall 
broken down by disease. Nor does she always fail. It is 
not claimed that God can not, and does not, at times in- 
tervene in the restoration of the body; the claim is that the 
anointing is not directly for that purpose. There is no 
feature in the Christian religion more necessary than the 
correct understanding of its true meaning, and applying 
the meaning to the act. Otherwise the inscription to the 
unkno\7n God would have needed no explanation from 
Paul. By wresting the Scriptures from their true meaning, 
supplanting the spiritual by the natural, and transferring 
law into fields not suited to it, many minds are to-day 
building a temple to the unknown God. Need we w^onder, 
after such contempt for Heaven's way, that many become 
vain in their imaginations, and that their foolish hearts 
are darkened? Changing again the worship of the incor- 
ruptible God into an image like unto corruptible man (and 
woman also) ; changing the truths of God into a lie; wor- 
shiping and serving the creature rather than the Creator, — 
for this cause the apostle says, "God will send them delu- 
sions to make them believe a lie, who have pleasure in un- 
righteousness." Nothing can so completely fill the con- 
dition that Paul found at Eome among its wicked and un- 
godly people, as the faith, prayer, and Christian Science 
healing of the present day. Claiming everything, where 
they can not justly claim anything ; even denying the Lord 
God that brought them from clay and made them material ; 
"walking after their own lusts, and their mouths speaking 
great swelling words f boasting of their comprehension of 
the spiritual, while greatly wanting in knowledge to un- 
derstand the natural ; prating about their efficient mastery 
of science in a field wherein they have previously pros- 
trated law, — all, this proves conclusively that they have no 
conceptions of the principles by which true science is gov- 
erned. Truly such are clouds without rain, carried upon 



Anointing the Sick with Oil. 247 

the wind of false zeal, converging toward a common center, 
whose consummation is Antichrist. 

Before concluding this subject, it is important that we 
examine the history of the anointing with oil. The first 
reference we find in Leviticus viii, 12. Here is a literal 
use of oil as an outward sign upon the head of Aaron, to 
signif}^ the inward anointing by the Spirit of God. In this, 
the natural element is symbolical of the spiritual — a sign. 
It can not be doubted that when Moses applied the oil to the 
head of Aaron, his brother, that a prayer or blessing ac- 
companied the act. The purpose was to consecrate unto 
God a priesthood set apart for the special service of offer- 
ing sacrifices under the law. This comprehended not only 
the offering of the victim, but also an intercession to God 
in behalf of the people. The entire design of this ordi- 
nance was to reach sin. Sin was the cause of it ; it was a 
kind of antidote for sin ; it was to show forth a reconcilia- 
tion of God with His people, by and through the shedding 
of blood ; and this answers the question why the sacrifice of 
Abel was more acceptable to God than that of Cain. It 
was God's way. It had still a deeper meaning; it was a 
figure or type of Christ, who, as the Eternal Spirit, offered 
Himself as a sacrifice in order to purge the world of sin, 
as says the prophet, "Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh 
away the sin of the world !"^^ 

By this anointing of the head with oil every high priest 
was consecrated to the office of interceder between God and 
His people. There is but one high priest mentioned in the 
Scriptures, of whose anointing we have no account, — Mel- 
chizedek, the high priest to whom Abraham paid tithes 
when returning from the battle of the kings, whither he 
had gone to rescue his nephew Lot and his family. After 
this manner of priesthood was the Son of God ordained. 
Christ was not a high priest under the law, as some claim. 
He came from the tribe of Judah, of which Moses spoke 

w John 1,27. 



248 "Ammi— My People/' 

nothing concerning the priesthood. It is true the house of 
Israel attained authority — in form — to make priests of 
any who desired the office; but this was after they had 
broken the law. From all appearance, the house of the 
Gentiles, who have broken the law, have arrived at the same 
point. 

However, Christ was made a high priest, but after a 
different order, with power to offer a different sacrifice, 
upon a different altar, immensely unlike that under the 
law. The sacrifices under the law could not make the ob- 
servers thereof perfect, could not purge the people of sin. 
The rite was only a shadow, of which Christ was the sub- 
stance. But who was it that could perform Christ's anoint- 
ing? Not the priests under the law; they did not be- 
long to the peculiar order. But as every high priest must 
be anointed, here was God's opportunity. As woman was 
greatly the cause of sin in the world, so must she be an in- 
strument in removing it; and to this end came Mary with 
a box of precious ointment, and poured it upon the head 
of Jesus, — who was to become the high priest of God, — in 
order to consecrate His body to the burial. Christ being 
a servant, continued so until the sacrifice upon the cross. 
While his glorious incarnation was accomplished under the 
law. His more glorious resurrection was not. The law and 
its priesthood could point no further than death, the cross ; 
but the priesthood of Christ pointed to life and victory 
triumphant. Christ Jesus became an everlasting and 
eternal Priest, having been anointed thereto by Mary be- 
fore He entered into the Holy of Holies. Thus it will be 
seen that sin and anointing are inseparably connected ; the 
one is the cause of the other; the outward, or literal, is to 
teach the import of the inward or spiritual. 

There is another instance of anointing that has a mean- 
ing peculiar to itself. It is found in the record of St. 
Mark : "And they cast out many devils, and anointed many 
with oil, and healed them." In this Scripture will be found 



ANOiNTiKa THE Sick with Oil. 249 

the key to unlock the secret of the boasting spirit of Anti- 
christ in the false claim to heal body, soul, and spirit. 
That God, in order to teach men His boundless power to 
save them, did, when setting up His kingdom upon earth, 
endeavor to gain the confidence of the natural man first, is 
a principle not always correctly considered. In order to do 
this, it was necessary to meet man at the point where he 
was the most tender, where he had exhausted his means, 
and the end not yet reached. That point lay in disease and 
death. If Jesus could heal the body, is there any reason 
why he could not heal the soul? If Jesus was able to 
restore the body from death, should He not be able to re- 
claim the soul ? Here is the turning point. To gain man's 
confidence at this stage was to lay the foundation for a 
higher demand. If the Master could empower his servants 
to practically demonstrate this power, it argued strongly 
in favor of His claim: "I am come to seek and to save 
that which was lost." Purity of body, as well as purity of 
soul, was man's all but irreparable loss. 

In order to protect Himself from any false claim of 
which man might accuse Him, Jesus proceeds to divest 
those whom He is about to send upon their mission of heal- 
ing of everything that they could call their own ; depriving 
them of every vestige of self-reliance, even to taking 
thought of themselves, but offering them instead His own 
words and power, "Saying, I will give you a mouth and 
an utterance, that your adversaries shall not be able to gain- 
say or resist." "Behold, I send you forth as sheep among 
wolves." In this condition they went forth to anoint and 
to heal, Christ Himself claiming the prerogative or cause 
of the success that should follow, let that be what it might. 
So long as His instructions were adhered to. He would be 
responsible. 

On their first journey, success attended their efforts, 
and as a victorious army they returned, bringing their 
laurels with them. In words closely akin to boasting, they 



250 *'Ammi— My People/' 

said, "Even the devils are subject "iinto us." And they let 
the secret out — US! Hear our Lord's rebuke: ''Eejoice not 
that the devils are subject unto you ; but rather rejoice that 
your names are written in heaven." Do not boast of what 
you can do, but rejoice rather over what I have done 
through you. In their joy over what had been done, they 
forgot the cause through which it was done, the point where 
man has ever broken bounds, as also the point which God 
has closely guarded. The desire of God is, that man shall 
receive honor, but He has wisely decreed that the path to 
honor lies through Him. This He explicitly defined in the 
case of Moses' address to the Israelites when they desired 
him to procure water for them. In the victory which 
Gideon gained over the Midianites this principle was 
closely guarded by God. 

A second mission of healing was instituted, and again 
the disciples were sent out. What they accomplished is 
not in the report ; we are left in doubt as to that. All we 
have is, "Then came the disciples apart to Jesus saying, 
Why could we not cast him out ?" They had as ingloriously 
failed here as they had gloriously succeeded formerly; and 
no doubt the cause lay in their boastful belief in the power 
of ''Us." The answer of Jesus was, "Because of your un- 
belief : Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by fasting and 
prayer." The only meaning that this can have is that it 
comes by way of a miracle at the instance of Christ, God 
bearing witness with signs and divers wonders in order to 
confirm the words and mission of His Son. It was the 
time of taking testimony and confirmation by witnesses. 
That time has long since passed. Miracle-working ceased 
with the work of the last inspired apostle; since then we 
have enlightenment through the teaching of the Spirit. 
The truths of God have been established upon the earth, 
and need no further confirmation; our duty is to accept 
these truths and live up to them. 

That some individuals have a certain degree of healing 



Anointing the Sick with Oil. 251 

powers along narrowl3'-constriTcted lines is accepted, when 
those gifts are exercised consistently with the law that gov- 
erns those gifts. The all wise Creator has provided means 
for both soul and body ; but those means can not be effective 
when applied contrary to conditions accompanying them. 
Each in its own way and in its own field. The law of the 
natural is the same as the spiritual, differing only in the 
means to heal, as the body differs in composition from the 
soul. When mankind learn to use the material body and 
material means, as not abusing them, then, and only then, 
will they have healthier bodies and purer minds. Xot that 
we can defy dissolution; by no means: when the lily has 
lived its allotted time it fades and dies, but leaves a germ 
in the ground for another life. The law of cause and effect 
is unchangeable ; and when cause for death and dissolution 
has obtained, the law can not be suspended, be it the lily, 
the young bird in the nest, or the infant in the mother's 
arms. 

For man to attempt to prolong natural life by means 
suited to the spiritual, is to attempt to remodel the whole 
building of God. But mankind has, in all ages, rebelled 
against law, regardless of the penalty for so doing; nor is 
this age an exception. Let it be admitted that the power 
through prayer, or the anointing, faith-healing, or even the 
fake called Christian Science, has power to heal the body, 
and the question arises. Is there any limit? Is there a 
point at which it may fail ? (And we know there is.) If so, 
how shall knowledge on this question be obtained other 
than by the study of natural law? It then follows as sure 
as fate, if natural law must fix the limit, the entire process 
from start to finish lies within the bounds of that law. And 
all the efforts of logic or sophistry that presumptuous men 
can invent will never change the decree of Heaven. From 
this conclusion it is asserted that the entire school of 
modern healing is built upon the foundation of hypnotism, 
wizard-craft, and witchery. 



252 "Ammi— My People/' 

Again, if this claim is built iipon righteousness, its 
advocates must needs be holy men and holy women. Why, 
then, shall not such choose rather to be freed from this 
world of disease and sin, and go where their reward awaits 
them ? Why should they seek to destroy the means that 
God has ordained for their escape, and close the door 
through which they could enter the Beyond? The psalm- 
ist says, "Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of 
His saints." PauPs desire was to depart and be present 
with the Lord. He would choose that rather than to be 
present with the body. The people of God, discerning the 
true meaning of His Word through the teaching of the 
Spirit, have always accepted the spiritual application of the 
ordinance of anointing. Seeing with an eye of faith the 
glorious promises connected therewith, when properly 
obeyed, they have approached the time of observing the 
rite with the tenderest of feeling and care. Knowing that 
God is just and kind to all that love and obey Him, His 
people feel that they should endeavor to be true and up- 
right before Him; in consequence of this they attempt not 
to lay hands upon any one approaching the altar, when 
evidence of transgression exists of such a nature as to unfit 
the subject for receiving the rite. 

But is not the anointing for the remission of sins ? So 
it is. However, there is a limit. By what law? By the 
law of the spiritual, which places it at once in the spiritual 
field. Not that the anointing shall be substituted for re- 
pentance and baptism, — ^they have had their time and their 
work; and should it be that that time was not well spent, 
nor that work well done, the anointing can not but be in- 
effectual. The Gospel of Christ is a Gospel of discipline, 
and is intended to apply to every individual member of 
that organism called the Church, the object of which is to 
build up character through the means of conversion from 
darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God. 



Anointing the Sick with Oil. 253 

Should this discipline be ignored and its demands trampled 
upon, even though the individual be a member of the 
Church, the anointing should be withheld ; for it is impos- 
sible to make law effectual that remains broken. Salvation 
is based upon positive conditions, and until those conditions 
are fulfilled we have no justifiable grounds upon which to 
build hope. The fact of an eternal inheritance being prom- 
ised should not cause us to lose sight of the conditions upon 
which that promise rests. Not until we have properly used 
that which we have, will God consent to give us more. So 
sacred should this promise be held that not until there is 
very little hope of the recovery of the body should this last 
rite be observed. The child of God having walked by faith, 
faithfully, now approaches the evening of time, as also the 
dawning of eternity^s morn, leaning hard upon the strong 
arm of faith, and calmly, hopingly, trustfully, enters into 
that pra3^er of faith that shall save him from sin, and 
present him acceptably before his Lord at His coming as 
a victor over death and the grave. 

In closing this subject, we desire to exhort the people of 
God to ever hold the most sacred watch over this holy ordi- 
nance, remembering always that God is not mocked, and 
whatsoever we sow we shall reap. Generally speaking, tlie 
religious world has set the ordinance aside, like man}^ other 
commands which God has given the Church to obey, sup- 
planting them with inventions of their own imaginations 
until the entire service is built upon the commandments of 
men, and not upon the Word of God. The thought of 
robbing God was charged upon the altars of the house of 
Israel by God Himself through the prophet, and the charge 
was based upon the breaking of His commands. The spirit 
of Antichrist is robbery pure and simple. The devil's first 
sin was founded upon robber}^ The object was to rol) God 
of glory by setting up a throne in opposition. The second 
attempt was to rob God of praise by overcoming His off- 



254 *'Ammi— My People/' 

spring in the Garden, and bringing a curse upon the earth. 
The last and final attempt of Satan will be to rob Christ 
of His kingdom at the close of the millennial reign. 

But to the people of God be it said, "Let them fear God 
and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of 
man ; for God will bring every secret thing into judgment, 
whether it be good or evil/^ 



THE HOLY SPIRIT— ITS OFFICE AND WORK, 

Power is the only conception this world can have of 
Spirit. Through the manifestation of power the greatness 
of God is made known; and the answering of Spirit to 
power, the one to the other, brings within the bound of 
hnman comprehension the character of tlie Infinite. "For 
God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship in 
spirit and in truth."^ Since the avenne through which we 
comprehend the immaterial leads to the material, the pres- 
ence of the Spirit must pass that way. This is explained 
b3''»the burning bush, when God appeared to Moses in the 
land of Jethro, while leading the life of a shepherd. Sinai 
trembling and burning, and the blackness and darkness 
of the tempest, prepared the people to hear the voice of God, 
which came to them through the Spirit. The pillar of 
cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, were designed 
to display the presence of Him who had promised them 
protection. The fiood, the confusion of tongues at the 
tower of Babel, the burning with fire of the cities of Sodom 
and Gomorrah, — all combine to prove that the means by 
which the spiritual reaches the natural lies within the nat- 
ural field; and further that some power, not of man, but 
beyond and above liim, must work through the natural in 
order to prove the presence of the spiritual. If this fact is 
kept in view, it will help much to explain what is spirit 
and what is material, as well as the source from which they 
come. 

It may happen that, in our following this mysterious 
manifestation which reveals to us the presence of God, we 
will forget that the devil is also spirit, and seeks to deceive 



1 John iv, 21. 

255 



256 "Ammi— My People." 

mankind through the mysterious power which he pos- 
sesses. Nor should we stand in doubt here, seeing that God 
is good, "and His meray endureth forever." He at no 
point, as yet, has robbed man of the power of choice, nor 
the necessity of being able to choose. 

The following words of the apostle are appropriate at 
this time : "For Satan himself is transformed into an angel 
of light, and no marvel if his ministers be transformed into 
ministers of righteousness."^ At one time Jesus said, "I 
beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven."^ Here is the 
same mysterious power clothed in that unknown force by 
which man is enabled to perform what, to the world at one 
time, some would have termed a miracle. In the midst of 
these mysterious forces, the one opposed to the other, each 
striving for the supremacy, man has traveled on through 
the passing years of time, until the evening of the world has 
brought the decisive hour. 

The act by which this mysterious power is displayed, 
when in the hands of God, is called, by the authority of the 
Scriptures, miracle-working, which was the last witness 
that Heaven called upon to prove to the world of mankind 
His Divine power. Since a miracle is a thing which is 
beyond the power of men to perform, it fills the place for 
which it has been called most fittingly. The power that 
God displayed at the hands of Moses in Egypt in the pres- 
ence of the conjurers, was miracle-working. The devil, 
through his servants, could imitate this miracle-working 
to an extent that induced the king to keep Israel in bond- 
age. Here the devil uses the material also, b}^ way of 
demonstrating his power. 

But one thing the devil and his servants have never 
clone, nor will ever be able to, and that is, to give life to 
matter. He can take matter, and fill it with death, but he 
can not make it and fill it with life. The parting of the 
sea, the manna, the flow of the water from the rock, the 



2 2 Cor. xi, 14. 3 Luke x, 18. 



The Holy Spirit. 257 

crossing of Jordan, the taking of Jericho, were miracles, 
and stand as an everlasting witness of the power of God 
to deliver His people; nor will the combined efforts of the 
adversary and his servants be able to counterfeit it. It is 
true, -according to the words of the Eevelator, that in the 
closing scenes of Gentile time there will be a beast and a 
power, and that the power will make an image like nnto 
the beast, and also have power to cause that image to both 
speak and cause that as many as would not worship the 
image of the beast should be killed. (See Eev. xiii, 11 to 
close of the chapter.) But of this we shall speak at another 
time. 

In returning to our subject, it will be seen that through 
this demonstration of God's power. His presence and great- 
ness, as well as His goodness, were continually kept before 
the eyes of His people, whom He had chosen for a purpose. 
When doubt and disbelief had destroyed confidence, and led 
that people to choose other gods, then that power was turned 
against them, and proved as strong an adversary as it had 
before proved a friend. Through the testimony given to 
the Jewish nation by the power of the Spirit, the founda- 
tion for the warning which Jesus gave to the Pharisees 
was laid. What office or position in power the Holy Spirit 
exercised before the Day of Pentecost was directly subserv- 
ient to the will of God. While the Godhead was ever com- 
posed of a Trinity, the Father was the leading or supreme 
cause up to that time. In other words, as the Son was a 
servant in the hands of His Father until He received all 
power, so the Holy Spirit's individuality received no em- 
phasis until the promise of His coming was fulfilled, which 
was verified in their midst when "it filled the house wherein 
they were sitting." In proof of this, the Scriptures testify 
in the language of John : "For the Holy Ghost was not yet 
given, because Jesus was not yet glorified."* 

Since the Day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit has been 

4Johiivli, 39. 

17 



258 "Ammi— My People/' 

the special guardidn and comforter of the Church in ail 
her work^ the sustaining influence in all her afflictions, and 
will continue to be so until her journey is done. As Sinai 
was the birthday of the Jewish Church, so Pentecost was 
the birthday of the Christian Chui'ch. The law, being ful- 
filled in the death of its sacrifices, could point no further; 
for that reason the Spirit testified through inert bodies. 
The Gospel of Christ being sanctified by a living Spirit, 
must needs testify through living bodies ; and so, "They be- 
gan to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them 
utterance." If God scattered the nations by a multiplicity 
of tongues. He chose to gather them by a unity of tongues. 
"And every one heard them speak in their own tongue 
wherein they were born." 

There is nothing that can not be used for testimony 
when confined within its class; yet not all testimony is 
true. All nature voices the testimony of truth; but nature 
has no interest in proving that which is false. I^ot until 
nature becomes unnatural will she offer any other testi- 
mony than that which is truth. N'ature always seeks to 
prove the word of her Creator. Man is the only thing in 
nature that has become so unnatural as to attempt to es- 
tablish the untruth. Here is seen and felt the effect of "the 
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.'' 
It is not claimed by this that should man prove true to 
nature he would be enabled to give testimony to the spir- 
itual; but it is claimed that, if man will keep in accord 
with nature, he can the more easily receive the spiritual. 
It is not safe to say that nature proves there is a God with- 
out further evidence. The natural and the spiritual are 
separated by a gulf impassable on the natural side, j^ature 
does prove law, but not until the spiritual touches the 
natural can nature prove the source or c^use of that law; 
nor can the soil prove that it will support life until the 
plant touches it. Not until the natural received a revela- 
tion from the spiritual, and a t-estimony of the same, could 



The Holy Spirit. 259 

man have been expected to know anything beyond this 
world of time. Man has received this revelation through 
the Son of God, and a testimony of the same through the 
Spirit; to that extent there need be no further witness re- 
quired. Hear Paul upon this point. "God who at sundry 
times and in divers manners, spal^e unto the fathers by the 
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His 
Son."^ "God also bearing them witness, both with signs and 
wonders, and with divers miracles and gifts of the Holy 
Ghost, according to His own will."® This was the office of 
the Spirit, — to testify, to prove by miraculous power the 
words of Jesus. 

The testimony of Jesus concerning the time when the 
Holy Spirit would enter upon His office is expressed in the 
words, "When He is come," signifying that a personal mis- 
sion of the Spirit was yet in the future. Nor could that 
mission be filled until certain conditions prepared the way. 
"Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, It is expedient for you 
that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will 
not come unto you; but if I depart I will send Him unto 
you." Up to this time the office of the Spirit was to tes- 
tify at the instance of Christ; after this there would be a 
personal or individual work for the Holy Spirit to per- 
form; which we gather from the words of the Master: 
"And when He is come. He will reprove the world of sin, 
and of righteousness, and of judgment."^ This is the first 
work of the Holy Spirit in His personal office, — ^to reprove 
the world of sin. No people or nation, nor the world, have 
ever had a more bitter rebuke for sin; nor could it have 
met the disbeliever more openly face to face. 

The Holy Ghost through the Apostle Peter declares the 
power of his mission. "And Peter, standing 'up with the 
eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them . . . 
Ye men of Israel, hear these words : Jesus of Nazareth, a 
man approved of God among you, . . . Him being de- 



6 Heb. i, 1. 6 Heb. il, 4. ^ John xvii, 9, 10, 11. 



260 *'Ammi— My People/' 

livered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of 
God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and 
slain; whom God hath raised up. . . . Therefore be- 
ing by the right hand of God exalted, and having received 
of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed 
forth this, which ye see and hear. . . . And when they 
had heard these words, they cried out. Men and brethren, 
what shall we do?"^ Verily, the words of Jesus were ful- 
filled, — that world, that Jewish world, received this strong 
reproof for their stubborn unbelief in Jesus of N'azareth. 

It was not said that the Holy Ghost would reprove a 
world of sinners, but of sin ; and the reason is given : "Be- 
cause ye believe not on Me/' That was their crowning sin. 
They were believers in God, but they would not, and did 
not, believe on Jesus; and for this the Holy Spirit was 
sent to reprove them. There is no offense mentioned in 
the record of the Apostle John that is so forcibly empha- 
sized as this sin of unbelief. As the mission of Jesus on 
earth came to a close, the more tender were His words to 
the people. How He longed to gather them, that He might 
comfort and save them; but they would not. The testi- 
mony of Peter meets the issue : "This is He whom ye have 
taken, and with wicked hands have crucified and slain." 
He who had come to deliver them, to gather them, and to 
bless them, they with wicked hands hanged upon a tree. 
Seeing that God hath raised Him up again, "whereof we 
are witnesses," will ye now believe? "i^nd they cried out, 
Men and brethren, what shall we do to be saved?'' No 
more resisting at this point. When the power of God, 
through the Spirit, begins to work, the inhabitants of hell 
shall tremble. 

The second work of the Spirit in His personal office 
was to "reprove the world of righteousness." The life of 
Christ upon the earth was to establish the righteousness of 
God among men; when that was done, His mission was 



sActsu, 14-23. 



The Holy Spirit. 2G1 

done. But the Holy Spirit v/as to further that work to its 
completion by dwelling in men, or clothing itself with re- 
generated souls. "Know you not that your body is the 
temple of the Holy Ghost ?" The presence of this invisible, 
eternal, unconquerable power dwelling in men was the 
evidence that Jesus gave to the world that He would con- 
quer Death, and rise again on the third day. "For as the 
Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son 
to have life in Himself : and hath given Him authority to 
execute judgment also, because He is the Son of God."^ 
The righteousness of God is embodied in one principle — 
redemption. When that is accomplished, God will have 
conquered, and the blessedness of it is the conquered and 
the Conqueror shall dwell together in love; for "God shall 
be All, and in all." 

As there could be no redemption unless the resurrection 
from the dead should be established, this at once became 
the pivot upon which the entire undertaking turned. Here 
was the issue; this part of the righteousness of God re- 
mained to be established. Christ preached the resurrection, 
and proved by His works that He had the power to raise 
others; but could He raise Himself? If not, then His 
claim was not true. He had told them, "Destroy this temple, 
and in three days I will build it up again;" but they be- 
lieved Him not. In this respect Jesus preached an un- 
qualified Gospel, and not until the principle of the resurr 
rection of His own body should be established, could His 
supremacy be demonstrated ; and this was the greater work 
referred to in the following words : "The works that I do 
shall ye do; and greater works than these shall ye do, be- 
cause I go to My Father."^^ The disciples had seen their 
Lord after His resurrection; they had been convinced of 
the truth of it ; but they did not have the power to preach 
it effectively. Tliis righteousness of God was of such a 
nature that it required more than man in himself possessed. 



9 John V, 26, 27. lo John xiv, 12. 



262 ''Ammi— My People/' 

Hence the command, "Tarry at Jerusalem until yon be 
endued with power from on high ;" and this was the Spirit's 
opportunity. Not to be able fully to establish the fact of 
the resurrection, was assurance that all would be lost; and 
to do this, man needed the assistance of the Holy Spirit. 
The testimony of the Spirit is "Unto you, first, God hav- 
ing raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turn- 
ing away every one of you from his iniquities/^ "This 
Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are witnesses." This 
is the reproof that the house of Israel, — the world to whom 
Jesus had come, — received from the Holy Ghost speaking 
through living witnesses, proving the righteousness of 
Christ's claim that He would rise from the dead ; and from 
henceforth the disciples, through the power of the Spirit, 
could proclaim a risen Lord; and, in the absence of this 
fact, all preaching in the name of Jesus, or in any other 
name, would be vain, and we would be yet in our sins. 

The third personal act of the Holy Spirit was to reprove 
the world of judgment. The qualification of this act is 
given in the expression of Christ, "Because the prince of 
this world is judged." Judgment means sentence pro- 
nounced, and the fulfilling of that sentence; and further, 
that sentence contains a reproof, and the devil was the re- 
ceiver of the reproof, which still further means a curtailing 
of liberty. Again, there is a twofold meaning in the reproof. 
The full expression of Jesus is, when the Holy Spirit 
should come, "He would reprove the world of judgment, 
because the prince of this ivorld is judged/' 

It is again understood that the world to which Jesus 
came was represented by the Jewish nation at the time of 
our Lord's coming. To them, and to them alone, was the 
call given; they were not to go in the way of the Gentiles, 
but only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Up to 
this time the Gentiles had no promise, and were therefore 
not responsible for the reproof. Not until the pouring out 
of the Spirit at the house of Cornelius could there be any 



The Holy Spirit. 263 

charge against that people or nation. The house of Israel 
was represented at Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost by 
devout men out of every nation, whither they had been 
scattered. Some wise men have claimed that the ten tribes 
were not included in that representation; but this is an 
error. In consulting the books of Ezra and Nehemiah con- 
cerning the return of the two tribes from Babylon in order 
to rebuild the temple, it is there stated, that in offering 
their sacrifices, they offered them according to the authority 
of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. This they 
could not have done unless the twelve tribes were repre- 
sented in the preparation of those sacrifices. 

Further, the Holy Spirit, speaking through Peter — and 
the Spirit makes no mistakes — says : "Therefore, let all the 
house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that 
same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." 
From this we can reasonably conclude that our position is 
correct. This people and nation had, through unbelief, 
apostasy, and blasphemy, charged Jesus with casting out 
devils by Beelzebub, the prince of devils. In answer our 
Lord said, "If I cast out devils by Beelzebub, by whom 
do your sons cast him out?" The condemnatory w^ords 
that followed this charge against our Lord proves it to be 
of the most serious nature : "All sins shall be forgiven unto 
the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewithsoever they 
shall blaspheme: but he that shall blaspheme against the 
Holy Grhost, hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of 
eternal damnation."^^ To reprove the world for that 
charge, and show that it was false, could have been done 
in no more consistent way, upon the force of Christ's own 
words, than to pass judgment upon Satan himself. In 
this way Jesus would not only reprove the world, but would 
reprove Satan also, who had prompted them to bring the 
charge, — thus reaching the source of the accusation, and 



11 Mark iii, 29. 



264 ''Ammi— My People/' 

leaving an everlasting testimony of Christ's power to the 
coming generations. 

The next point to consider is^, Of what did this judg- 
ment consist? Has Satan lost any power? Is he now 
hound? If so, what will be the condition of the world 
when more liberty is granted him? Let not the reader 
think these are idle questions ; they have engaged the minds 
of thinking men in many places and in many stations of 
life, and should engage the mind of every student of the 
Scriptures. All Scripture, divinely inspired, is based upon 
two principles — prophecy and history. There is but one 
means by which the Holy Spirit, or the spirit of Satan can 
have influence over mankind ; and that is, through the flesh. 
As God was manifest to the world through the flesh in the 
person of His Son, likewise Satan was, and is, manifest to 
the world through man and mankind. This statement is 
sustained by both history and prophecy. The devil in- 
fluenced the woman to conceive his spirit through the mind, 
which must use matter to complete its design ; and as- the 
mind was poisoned, all matter produced under that in- 
fluence became partaker of the poison. This shows why 
"man is conceived in sin, and brought forth in iniquity." ^^ 
God influenced the woman to conceive through the womb, 
the organ which most closely represents creation, — the 
principle Avhich alone belongs to God, — and by keeping the 
mind pure, the product could not be otherwise than pure. 
The first man, Adam, was made of matter, and then re- 
ceived a living soul. The second man, Christ Jesus, was 
given a living Spirit, around which matter formed. The 
formation being guided by purity, the product was alike 
pure. The devil, being a spirit, was free to pass wherever 
an opportunity offered to oppose God, and His object in 
the garden was to destroy God's glory, which lay in man, 
"For man is the glory of God."^^ While the devil was in 
the Garden of Eden, he is also said to have contended with 



12 Psalm n, 5. 13 Luke xiii, 16. 



The Holy Spirit. 265 

Michael concerning the body of Moses. While he met Job 
in his travels np and down, walking to and fro upon the 
earth, he is said to have been the accuser of Christ's 
brethren in the land of spirits. That he could bind man- 
kind at his will is confirmed by Jesus and the Apostle 
Peter. Christ speaks of a certain woman "whom Satan 
had bound, lo, these eighteen j-ears." Paul speaks of some 
that were "led captive at his will.''^* 

Again, those who were possessed with devils in the time 
of Christ were not so from choice; the nature of the cir- 
cumstances, and the character of the individuals affected, 
will not admit of such a construction. Nor is this all : The 
devil had the power of death over the entire human family 
until this judgment was placed upon him; none could es- 
cape. Through the death of Christ, this power was de- 
stroyed, as evidence the words of Paul: "Forasmuch then 
as the children were partakers of flesh and blood. He also 
Himself likewise took part of the same : that through death 
He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, 
the devil ; and deliver them who through fear of death were 
all their lifetime subject to bondage.''^^ From this we may 
reasonably conclude that, — first, the devil was judged by 
being deprived of his power to influence mankind further 
than they are willing to he influenced; for we are the sub- 
jects of him whom we obey; secondly, he was judged by 
being cast out of heaven, and can no more present himself 
there to accuse the spirits of Christ's servants; lastly, he 
was judged by being deprived of the power of death over 
any but those who choose death rather than life. 

By thus judging the prince of this world, the Holy 
Spirit, through the disciples of Jesus, could reprove the 
Jewish world for their blasphemous accusations against 
the Son of God. This constitutes the first work of the 
Holy Spirit in His personal office; and this was done by 
clothing Himself upon men. That the Church of Christ, 

"2Tim. ii, 26. 



266 "Ammi— My People/' 

or the people of God are under the guidance of the Third 
Person of the Trinity, as the disciples were under the Sec- 
ond, is so forcibly affirmed by Christ that there need be 
very little evidence in testimony thereof referred to here. 
The Savior, in speaking of the vi^ork and office of the 
Spirit, or Comforter, says, "Bnt the Comforter, which is 
the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, 
He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your 
remembrance, whatsoever I have said nnto yon."^^ "He will 
guide you into all truth, that He may abide with you 
forever/'^^ 

The Holy Spirit is the preserver of orthodoxy in tlie 
Church. Since it is the office of the Spirit to take the 
words of Christ, and show them unto the children of God, 
the evidence of that people must be the same light to the 
world as Jesus gave to the world; there can be no change 
in faith or in practice when once they have been established 
upon the testimony of the Spirit. As God is unchangeable, 
so is the Spirit, and those who are controlled by the Spirit 
must unchangeably hold to that faith that was once, de- 
livered unto the saints. Christ being the example set for 
man's development, there can be no way of reaching that 
end save along the lines that the Spirit directs; nor can 
the Spirit follow any course aside from the words of Christ. 

We have now arrived in our subject at a point of the 
most vital importance, — a consideration of the various 
religious bodies as they give evidence of their condition. 
There can be no presence or guidance of the Holy Spirit 
unless the doctrine, faith, and practice of a body of believ- 
ers is controlled by the spirit and letter of God's Word; 
and in the absence of the Holy Spirit, all service, of what- 
ever kind, can have no other foundation than flesh ; for in 
the absence of the Spirit, nothing but flesh remains, and 
that is dead. "So they that are in the flesh can not please 
God."^^ To claim the presence and guidance of the Holy 



15 Heb. ii, 14. 15. le John xi v, 2G. ^^ John xvi, 13. is Rom. viii, 8. 



The Holy Spirit. 267 

Spirit after having set aside the commands of Christ, is to 
grieve the Spirit and deny the Master. Such inconsistency 
can but make men despise the offering and hate the taber- 
nacle of the Lord. When this fact is established, there is 
no room for deception with those who desire light: the 
Holy Spirit readily distinguishes between those who serve 
God and those who serve Him not; "For the Spirit will 
bear witness with your spirits that you are the children 
of God.^^^^ 

In the midst of these changing scenes, when there seems 
to be nothing secure in the way of belief^, to say nothing of 
faith ; when all the world that lays claim to the teachings of 
Christ is drifting on the sea of uncertainty, and the waves 
thereof threaten to carry our children a^id friends into the 
swelling current, can this be thought an untimely warn- 
ing? The office of the Holy Spirit is to intercede for us 
in prayer ; "For the Spirit maketh intercession for us, with 
groanings that can not be uttered." The Holy Spirit 
should control the singing in all the services of God^s tem- 
ple since the Spirit will not clothe itself upon any but re- 
generate souls ; the people of God can not limit their sing- 
ing to a special few set apart, commonly called the choir. 
Experience forcibly teaches that there can be no surer way 
to exclude the presence of the Spirit from our singing than 
by this modern system so prevalent among religious bodies. 
The only teacher that we have to guide us into the accepta- 
ble manner of service is the Holy Spirit, and He knows no 
such means as are used by the large majority of worshipers. 
The use of musical instruments in the Gospel service is in 
opposition to the spirit of Christ's life and words, and has 
no Scriptural example for a precedent. It is claimed that 
as musical instruments were used in the time of David, 
and God accepted his service, their use in Church service 
can not be wrong now. It is admitted that the use of 
musical instruments in that old-time service seems to have 



19 Rom. viii, 16. 



268 "Ammi— My People/' 

been recognized, but what proof can we procure that will 
license them under the Gospel ? That old service was under 
the letter, and death was stamped upon the entire insti- 
tution; but we are under the Spirit, which is life. If the 
advocates of musical instruments in divine service are will- 
ing to concede that their service is as dead as the service 
under the law, we have no further protest to offer. Like 
conditions admit of like means; and if they will also con- 
cede that their service can make nothing perfect, and there- 
fore belongs to death, we dismiss the matter at once: if 
not, why cling to the law in one part, and ignore the re- 
mainder ? 

The Holy Spirit should control the preaching of the 
Word of God : and this it will do when men are willing to 
be controlled by it. Not that the Spirit will fill man to 
overflowing without diligent application upon his part. 
Those who expect this will never be able to preach the 
Word in its power ; they may make much noise, but that is 
no evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit. The man 
who will untiringly study to show himself a workman ap- 
proved of God, and exercise the power gained from this 
approval, shall have a potency in his words which, though 
they come from him, will not be of him ; an influence pro- 
ceeding from him, but above him; a mysterious fullness 
which will carry force and conviction beyond the power of 
human devising. There can be nothing more ineffective 
for the good of Zion and the glory of God than preaching 
without the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Author of 
the Sermon on the Mount declared that "The Spirit of 
the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to 
preach the Gospel to the poor.''^*^ And every man since 
that time, who would preach the Word to the glory of God, 
must be anointed with the same Spirit. 

The Holy Spirit should be relied upon to guide the 
people of God in choosing their teachers. In no work in 



Luke iv, 18. 



The Holy Spirit. 269 

which the Church is called to act is there more responsi- 
bility resting than here. The apo'stles give evidence that 
they chose the seven for the same reason they chose Stephen, 
because he was a man full of the Holy Ghost; and the re- 
sult justified their choice. Not that men who may be in 
possession of the Spirit can not err; they did, and may, 
but not while following the Spirit. If err the chosen do, it 
can only be when the flesh is in control. When Peter was 
carried away by the advocates of circumcision, it was when 
he had lost sight of the teaching of the Spirit; and Paul 
says he was to be blamed because he was then tearing down 
what he had built up when under the guidance of the 
Spirit. Nor is Peter alone in this. Men there are in our 
day, who, while endeavoring to build from honest motives, 
are often found building in the absence of the teaching of 
the Holy Spirit. 

Lastly, the Holy Spirit should control our whole life. 
It should mold our deportment; it should temper our 
words and guide our acts at home and abroad; it should 
govern us when dealing with our companion, our children, 
our neighbor, our enemy, and all creatures over which we 
have charge. The Holy Spirit should so pervade the hearts 
of the people of God that courtesy and politeness, friend- 
ship and kindness, tenderness and forbearance, will grace 
their pathway through life. The Holy Spirit, when al- 
lowed control, will make the individual attractive and win- 
ning. The world may not be able to explain the cause; 
they may not comprehend the source; but they can not 
deny the effect. It was said, "The -world can not compre- 
hend, because it knoweth not.'' While the enemies of Jesus 
may deny His doctrine, they can not deny His holy life, 
which was crowned with heavenly graces. 

It is alone through the power of the Holy Spirit that 
the Church is preserved. When we consider the conditions 
through which the people of God have been sustained; the 
centuries through which they have passed ; the countries 



270 "Ammi— My People/' 

through which they have traveled, surrounded by opposing 
influences ; in the midst of contending races and classes of 
men of all beliefs and minds and persuasions; through 
tumult and tempest, tempest and tumult; still onward 
pressing, gathering here a little and there a little ; regard- 
ing quality at the expense of quantity ; few in number yet 
bound by an inseverable band; molding all into one serv- 
ice of faith and bond of love, a tie to which the world is a 
stranger, — we can then, and then only, feel and know the 
mysterious power of the Holy Spirit. 

And when the conflict is ended, in the preservation of 
the faith, the voice of the Spirit is : "Here is the patience 
of the saints; here are they that have kept the command- 
ments of God and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice 
from heaven saying unto me. Write, Blessed are the dead 
who die in the Lord, from henceforth : Yea, saith the Spirit, 
that they rest from their labor, and their works follow 
them.^'^^ 



21 Rev. xlv, 12, 18. 



THE USE AND ABUSE OF SONGl. 

When the design of an institution is lost sight of, and 
its meaning no longer comprehended, what further use it 
may serve is at the best imaginary. It may seem to ns 
somewhat strange, yet the fact remains, that the things 
which are intended for our greatest good, when abused, 
produce the greatest curse. This fact proves more strongly 
the perfections of Him who is the Author of all that is 
good. The teachings of Truth are, that "Every good and 
.perfect gift cometh down from the Father of lights, in 
whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turn- 
ing."^ Upon this testimony rests the verdict that, what- 
ever good the world has ever enjoyed, comes from God. 
Our Lord confirms this thought with emphasis: "Why 
callest thou me good? there is none good save one, that is 
God.'^2 

The highest and most glorious attainment of man is 
to be able- to praise his Maker in that fullness for which 
provision has been made. 'So complete is the provision 
that man may arrive at perfection through the proper use 
of it. Among the various means which have been provided 
in order to accomplish that end, singing constitutes a 
prominent part. Through the rapture of song was the 
morning of creation sweetened with melody. Trembling 
as with delight the infant universe responded to the song 
of the morning stars, while the sons of God shouted for 
jo}^ As the birth of creation was hallowed by song, so the 
birth of the Eedeemer was sanctified by the music of the 
angels. As the children of Israel sang the song of praise 
on the shore of deliverance, so shall the redeemed of the 



1 James 1, 17. 2 Luke xviii, 19. 

271 



272 , '^Ammi— My People/' 

Lord sing the song of Moses and the Lamb npon the bank 
of the Eiver of Life. As^ upon their return from literal 
Babylon under Nehemiah^ Judea commemorated the com- 
pletion of the temple with song, so also will spiritual Judea 
fill the temple of God in heaven with a new song. Thus 
the strains of the song of creation reverberate throughout 
the rolling }ears of providence until the echo, caught by 
the lips of angels, proclaims the coming of the Prince of 
Peace, whose kingdom, built in the hearts of His people, 
continues still to prolong the strain until, in one unending 
and eternal anthem, the habitations of men will resound 
with praise. 

With such holy associations surrounding the service of 
song, no further instructions are necessary concerning its 
use. What further promptings could the people of God 
need to enable them to hold careful watch over this divine 
gift ? In the wonderful power produced through the modu- 
lation of the human voice by the various chords of which it 
is composed, we are presented with a token of one of the 
infinite perfections of the mind of God. Nor could His 
wisdom be more wisely displayed than in associating this 
marvelous accomplishment with divine service, — proving 
that whatever power for good .man may possess, his Maker 
demands that it be used to the glory of Him who gave it. 
We can not conceive of a demand more reasonable. 

There is nothing in the history of the world that teaches 
the power and beauty of song so gloriously complete as we 
see illustrated in the life of David, the sweet singer of 
Israel. The Book of Psalms stands as a pillar of truth, an 
ever-increasing fountain of history and prophecy, display- 
ing in all their completeness the joy and sorrow, the hope 
and perplexity, to which man's life is subject, whilst all is 
tempered by the sweetness of song. Here may be found the 
song of penitence and the song of repentance ; the song of 
conflict and the song of deliverance; the song of chastise- 
ment and the song of forgiveness. Here are shown the 



The Use and Abuse of Song. 273 

works of the godly and the sinner ; the one shall never fail, 
while the other will utterly perish. Here is the song of 
the greatness of God and the weakness of men, the wisdom 
of God and the foolishness of the fool. In the harmony of 
creation, ^'The heavens declare the glory of God, and the 
firmament sheweth His handiwork." Through the spirit of 
song are the commandments of God sweetened by the en- 
durance of His mercy. Here is the song of the thirsty 
soul, panting as the hart for the water brook, with the as- 
surance that the living God will quench it. Here is the 
discordant song also, yet ending in harmony in the sanc- 
tuary of God. Behold the tenderness of the sweet singer, 
when describing the unsung song by the river of Babylon, 
where captivity reigned and strangers made mocking 
mirth ! 

And thus onward through life's struggles is the man 
of God borne upon the wings of song ; sustained and com- 
forted; protected and delivered; gaining faith and power 
as the conflict increases, until in tender emotion he breaks 
forth with the concluding anthem, "I will sing praises 
unto my God while I have my being." How like the 
zephyrs that inspire the morning, has the sweetness of 
music seasoned the words of the singer of Israel ! 

Beginning his life at the school of the sheepfold, the 
son of Jesse was taught the tenderest of lessons, that can 
only be learned in the school of innocence. May it no.t be 
that, then and there, his young and melodious heart was 
inspired by the song of innocence the lambs were suggest- 
ing? When afterwards, in an unguarded moment, the 
power of flesh overcame the advocate of song, and caused 
him to betray his higher interests, he was made to see the 
weight of his transgression by the tenderness of such asso- 
ciation as a lamb only can teach. Methinks well did the 
prophet Nathan know at what point this man could best 
be reached; and accordingly proceeds to draw a picture, 
which, to the mind of the son of Jesse, was so vivid and 
18 



274 "Ammi— My People/' 

impressive as to move him to pronounce judgment against 
himself. "As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this 
thing shall surely die/' he said. "Thou art the man," said 
Nathan. "I have sinned against the Lord/' responded 
David. Weeping now takes the place of song, and sickness 
the j^lace of lust, and the sentence of death lingers to call 
the innocent to sacrifice, that the promise of God and God's' 
cause might be forwarded. 

In the person of Solomon, the son of David, we have 
another example of the power and sweetness of song. 
Bringing together the combined forces of history and 
prophec}^, kindled by the fire of inspiration, he is enabled 
to portray the sacred nearness of the relation of Christ and 
the Church. Catching, as it were, a refrain from the harp 
of his father, he sets forth in the fullness of joy the experi- 
ment that first love only can feel. If such was the power of 
song that faith prompted while men were living under the 
letter, with what rapture should the melody flow when they 
are filled with the Spirit ! If the Child of Bethlehem was 
introduced by song, shall not His going forth be accom- 
panied by singing ? If the men of God in times past found 
sustaining influence in song, the people of God to-day 
should find comfort and praise in the same thing. When 
prison bars and rigid stocks confined the feet of God's serv- 
ants, they could not, nor can they now, confine the spirit of 
song. The midnight hour, with all its silent forebodings, 
but added sweetness and power to the strain. Nor was the 
refrain to be lost within the darkness and gloom of those 
prison walls. Bursting as with emotion, the iron doors fly 
open, and the earth in response quakes with rapture in 
answer to that song. Let the night be dark even to the 
midnight hour; let the king and the kingdoms of men be 
dead and deaf in sleep and in sin ; let the earth be wrapped 
in silence, — when the strings of the harp of heaven are 
touched, creation reverberates. 

After having seen and felt the power and worth of 



The Use and Abuse of Song. 275 

song, the apostle of the Gentiles could consistently say, "Be 
filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and 
spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts 
to the Lord/' As evidence of the power of song when 
properly understood the apostle further says, "I will sing 
with the spirit, and with the understanding also." ^ Here 
we are brought to consider what this power of song im- 
plies. We now have a qualification, which is the only 
method known to' man by which he can determine merit. 
Paul, in speaking of the qualification of prayer and song, 
gives them a merit based upon a common principle. His 
words are, "I will sing with the spirit, and with the under- 
standing also. I will pray with the spirit, and with the 
understanding also." 

Here our subject gathers increasing interest. As we 
approach the point in any undertaking in life where we 
reach results, our powers of discernment become the more 
taxed, and our responsibility the more real. To know now 
the right thing to do, is to succeed ; and to succeed here, is 
to gain the approval of Heaven, — the only value any serv- 
ice can have. Fortunately for us, we are not left with the 
responsibility of choosing for God; wisely has He made 
choice for us, and only asks us to accept of His choice. 
How greatly we are favored by this relief from conse- 
quences, few of us properly estimate. Not that man has 
been deprived of making a choice in anything as touching 
results; by no means; but he is not burdened with the re- 
sponsibility of choosing for God. By this arrangement the 
Creator becomes responsible for the creature, when the 
creature accepts the choice of the Creator. The point at 
which man may choose, and must choose, is whether he will 
accept the choice that God has made for him. If not, he 
must then choose for himself, and himself bear the respon- 
sibility. Otherwise man would become an automaton, and 
lose his individuality. 

To understand our relation to God, and God's relation 



276 "Ammi— My People." 

to us, is an indispensable prerequisite of salvation. As a 
prayer without understanding is meaningless, so a song not 
understood is of no benefit to the singer; nor can Gjod be 
praised in such singing. The condition of being able to 
sing praises to God acceptably is to be filled with the Spirit ; 
and by this all can sing under standingly. The office of the 
Spiri't is to teach; to teach us how to sing as well as how 
to pray, or how to perform any other duty that belongs to 
the house of God. We need have no fears when we accept 
the guidance of the Holy Spirit. If the Spirit is given 
control, the understanding will be right, and we are led to 
believe there will be more life and power in our singing. 
Preaching has no merit in the absence of the Spirit. Pray- 
ing is of no avail, unless the Spirit directs the interceding. 
Likewise, all singing with the intent to praise God is 
empty and worthless unless controlled by the Spirit. 

It is to be greatly feared that, even among the people 
of God, this blessed means by which God should be praise^ 
is losing its power and influence. Right well does the 
writer remember when in his youthful years he, as by some 
mysterious fascination, was charmed with the songs of our 
old German brethren. Though not able to understand the 
words or their meaning, the spirit in which those songs 
were sung revealed the presence of the spirit which 
prompted them. That the people of God may lose influence 
through the neglect of proper attention to duty is possible. 
God has given His people the blessing, of song, and sancti- 
fies it, as well as answers to its testimon}^ How little it is 
appreciated and felt, often appears to our confusion ! In 
no part of divine service can all join so unitedly, with one 
heart and soul, with the voice of one mind, as in the exorcise 
of song. With mutual understanding, touched by the chord 
of emotion, — the key that unlocks the secrets of our higher 
life, — we can send forth the praise of God upon the wings 
of song. 



The Use axd Abuse of Song. 277 

Of all the means by which we are enabled to reach one 
another, there are none so nniversally successful as that 
of song. Possibly there remains yet to be found the indi- 
vidual who will not respond to music. Preaching has iu 
methods by which mankind may be reached and won. The 
Divine Mind has ordained it as a means to persuade men 
and women to believe and come to God. By prayer certain 
ends have been reached and things accomplished that can 
only be reached by this means. Preaching may make men 
tremble, but prayer moves heaven and earth. Singing 
possesses, not so much the power to make men act, as it 
does to prepare them for action, and also to give a true 
impress when the act is done. This explains the place that 
has been chosen for singing in the order of God's house. 

The mother's song does not cause the babe to sleep, but 
so fits the mind and body that the cause of sleep may have 
its effect. While singing possesses a deep significance, it 
is not intended as a method to explain the Word of God, 
but as a means to prepare the mind to receive the Word. 
The sound of the bugle and fife is not the call for action, 
but the call to prepare for action. Upon the other hand, 
the song of deliverance on the further shore of the Eed 
Sea was in commemoration of an act completed. The song 
of the angels was to commemorate the bringing of the 
Child in the manger. There is a song that prepares for 
the conflict, and a song of victory; a song of faith, and a 
song of triumph. For this reason singing has a special 
work and office beyond which it can not go. When man 
attempts to accomplish by singing that for which it was 
not intended, he fails in his understanding, and also in the 
result. To Imow how to use this blessed gift from God in 
the manner for which it was given, is the power that lies 
in the gift; remembering still that, in all the provisions 
which have been given man to perfect his stature, natural 
and spiritual, gro^i:h is the basis. "We grow in grace and 



278 "Ammi— Mr People/' 

in the knowledge of the trnth/'^ We grow in stature when 
we compl}^ Avith the conditions that growth demands. 

Spiritually speaking, the Apostle Peter defines this sub- 
ject in a very compreliensive way. "And besides this, giv- 
ing all diligence, add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, 
knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temper- 
ance, patience," etc. Can it be expected that the Spirit 
will fulfill these conditions toward perfecting man's spir- 
itual stature without an effort upon the part of the indi- 
vidual? Can a man live in a storehouse of provisions 
without making an efi^ort to feed himself ? The . answer 
must be, No. Neither nature nor grace has been arranged 
, in such a way as to encourage man to become a sluggard. 
Study, thought, and labor are the watchwords of Heaven, 
and are applicable in every field where man is called to 
work. Through application we become developed; by de- 
velopment we receive power; with power we are able to 
succeed, and this is the avenue, and the only one, by which 
we are to go on to perfection. In some things we are sat- 
isfied with too little; in other things we want too much; 
and the pity is, we want so much of that which we in 
reality do not need. Man himself can not cause growth, 
either natural or spiritual; but one thing he can do, and 
must do, if he desires to do his duty, — he can provide the 
conditions for growth. That we should cultivate the divine 
gift of song is as true as that we should cultivate the gift 
of speech. The world has received an untold number of 
gifts from the hand of its Maker; but the fewest need no 
development. 

There is indeed a power in the acquirement of words, 
but a far greater power in knowing how to use them 
effectively. We may talk a long 'while, and say very little ; 
while much can be said in a few words. However, whether 
our speech be long or short, the spirit that does the prompt- 
ing is chief. The evidence the Scriptures give of great 



3 2 Peter m, 18. 



The Use and Abuse of Song. 279 

thought in their composition should encourage every be- 
liever in them to cultivate the gift of expression. 

The creation of man was good, and fitted him to glorify 
his Maker; but all his powers are latent. What is true of 
our speaking, is equally true of our singing. Nature must 
undergo a degree of growth before grace can use it. Grace 
is generous enough not to ask anything from those who 
do not know her. Our capacity for perfecting the power 
of song must be cultivated, if but along natural lines, until 
such time as it is proper for grace to use it. To neglect 
this duty, and the opportunity to perform it, will result in 
our irreparable loss in after life. Our children should he , 
taught to sing. It is the duty of parents, even from a nat- 
ural standpoint, to see to their teaching. The blessings 
that are derived from singing are twofold. While sing- 
ing expands the mind, it also develops and strengthens the 
body. While it tempers the thoughts, it also modifies the 
action. The one who has the power of song will cheer and 
comfort others, and at the same time draw others to ad- 
mire the singer. It will bless and sweeten home; it will 
brighten hope, and inspire faith; it will strengthen the 
weak and temper the strong; it will bind when all other 
cords fail ; it will comfort the sorrowful, support the lonely, 
and banish gloom. It is a companion in sickness, a solace 
in death, and offers a blessed consecration to the grave. ^^0 
come, let us sing, let us make a joyful noise unto the Kock 
of our salvation.^' Those who neglect to cultivate this 
priceless gift will lose one of God's richest blessings. 

Fathers and mothers among the people of God, let it be 
urged upon you, above all things, to improve the oppor- 
tunity of song to sweeten the lives of your children, and 
they in turn will repay you double. It is sad to think upon 
the condition into which the current of the world is draw- 
ing the young, the hope of our lives. The things of time 
and sense, riches and extravagance, seem to be sapping the 
life of our very being. Nor are those who, by their pro- 



280 '^Ammi— My People/' 

fession and covenant^ should be the people of God, entirely 
free from this snare. Is it not time to stop, and seriously 
consider what is required to constitute the people of God? 
It is not enough to make a profession of the Christian re- 
ligion ; the living of a life that proves the sincerity of our 
profession is the test; and there can be no better evidence 
of a free and willing service than that which flows from 
the heart in cheerful song. It helps us to cast away the 
cares and sorrows of life. It increases faith, strengthens 
hope, and calms the soul. It perfectly prepares the con- 
gregation for prayer. It assists the spirit in aiding the 
.minister, and fits his hearers for receiving the Word. Its 
mission is free ; its power is full ; its glory is heaven. These 
are the blessings that surround the spirit of song; but we 
shall only be able to enjoy them as we are willing to labor 
to attain them. 

The Abuse of Singing. 

Power can only be productive of good when properly 
applied. As our opportunities increase to do good on one 
hand, they, in the same proportion, increase to do evil on 
the other. This will be found true in every avenue of life ; 
otherwise the conflict would be unequal. In view of this 
fact, some are often brought to the point where oppor- 
tunity to do good is passed for fear of increasing respon- 
sibility. Others losing sight of responsibility, through in- 
temperate ambition to accomplish certain ends^ abuse the 
means by which they hope to succeed. Both are wrong. 
One is the sin of omission ; the other is the sin of commis- 
sion. On account of these wrongs, two positions are occu- 
pied, and both on extreme grounds which men have found 
it difficult to maintain. Truth and the real blessings of 
life will be found lying midway between these extremes. 

While Jesus Christ was the manifestation of Divinity, 
He was also the perfection of humanity, — a line smoothly 
and evenly drawn between the two. In seeking to imitate 



The Use and Abuse of Song. 281 

Him, the people of God must keep this fact before them; 
in losing sight of it, the}^, too, are in danger of abusing 
their opportunities through the sin of omission. In con- 
demning the abuse of the spirit of song, they should not 
permit themselves to occupy the other extreme. No good 
can come from either. Such is the condition, it is feared, 
to be found in many places among the people of God. This 
can never give them the full enjo^mient of the inheritance 
of the spirit of song; nor can it give them proof of that 
inheritance. In studying the history of the world relig- 
iously and politically, every careful student can not fail to 
recognize the spirit of affiliation that has ever existed be- 
tween these two classes of men, the preponderance of dis- 
position in that direction being governed entirely by the 
position the one or the other occupied. When religion oc- 
cupied the ascendency, politics conformed more or less to 
religion. When politics was in the lead, religion conformed 
in the same manner to politics. This was the principle by 
which the house of Israel desired a king. 

The Divine Mind foresaw the evil that would inevitably 
grow out of such a condition, and, in a kindly and fatherly 
way, warned the people and nation of the coming danger. 
The result of the desire to affiliate proved the utter de- 
struction of the power of that people, and the harvest of 
their destruction resulted from the seeds of their own sow- 
ing. The entire Mosaic covenant was so framed as to place 
an unsurmountable barrier between that people and the 
outside world; and every application of the law converged 
along lines designed to defend that principle. When the 
Messiah came, to whom that covenant looked for its con- 
summation, the house of Jacob had no power politically, 
and very little, if an}^ religiously. The Prince of the 
House of David dec]^red to the world, "ilfi/ kingdom is not 
of this world/' 

The fathers of this country, the framers of the Consti- 
tution based upon the Declaration of Independence, guided 



282 '^Ammi— My People/' 

as by an unseen Hand, so worded that all but immortal 
combination of principles as to guard against the uniting of 
Church and State. So long as those principles are main- 
tained, there need be no fear that the people of God will 
lose their freedom of worship. How long this priceless 
blessing will be enjoyed, God knows. The signs of the 
times clearly indicate the hasty coming of a period when 
Church and State shall again be united. Great things 
grow slowly, and gather the quality of endurance as they 
develop, but very often they start from the minutest be- 
ginnings. 

Singing has not only a cheering, but a uniting in- 
fluence; this seems to be its inheritance from the time the 
first song was sung. The bird's song will draw its mate; 
their united songs will cause others to join with them. One 
comrade will start a whole company to singing, until the 
spirit of his song prepares the army for the conflict. 

One of the most far-reaching, and seemingly innocent, 
means by which the union of religion and politics is fos- 
tered is in the spirit of song. The manner of the song is 
an index to the spirit that prompted it; this was proven 
at the foot of Sinai, and the nations have imitated it ever 
since. In no stage of the world's history was this fact more 
forcibly brought out than in the history of our own coun- 
try in the last forty years. The conflict which followed the 
severing of the tie that made this nation one was of such 
proportions as to affect the societies of men from center to 
circumference. So intense was this feeling of disunion 
that it seized hold of the spirit of song to impress itself. 
Thus slowly but surely was the political interwoven with 
the religious, until the one had all but supplanted the 
other; nor has the latter ever recovered its former 
sacredness. 

It is morally right for society to have its songs; it is 
consistently right for the soldier to have his songs; but it 
is Divinely right for the people of God to have their songs. 



The Use akd Abuse of Song. 283 

The one can not take the place of the other, nor be sub- 
stituted for the other; nor can they be snng with the same 
spirit. The kingdoms being antagonistic, their songs can 
not be otherwise. Failing to make this distinction, and to 
discern the proper place for each, has corrupted the greater 
portion of what is called religious singing at the present 
time. So long as each is kept in its proper place, and 
properl}^ sung, there can be no abuse. Through an increas- 
ing change of environment comes an increasing demand for 
the adoption of new things; to be able to hold that which 
is good, and at the same time increase its power by addi- 
tion, is the secret of development. The song gathers mean- 
ing and force from the manner in which it is sung. 

There is not so great need of new songs as there is 
need of more spirit and feeling in singing the old ones. If 
we do not properly use that which we have, there is strong 
argument against our making a better application of more. 

The full employment of the present means will always 
be attended with an increase of means because of increasing 
demands, which proves the presence of growth. Some 
things do not grow for lack of roots ; others do not grow for 
lack of life to gather strength ; and singing in this respect 
offers a fertile field as a test. Singing is divided into three 
classes, — sacred, national, and sensational. If the song is 
sacred, and sacredly sung, we can praise God acceptably. 
If the song is national, and sung in the spirit of true pa- 
triotism, we show fidelity to the nation. If the song is sen- 
sational, and sung in a sensational manner, there is noth- 
ing in it, above it, or under it, that can possibly go higher 
than the flesh. Can we not now better understand why 
the apostle demands that we shall sing with the spirit and 
the understanding ? 

That the modern religious bodies of the world have 
adopted in a dangerous degTee the sensational, is evidenced 
on every hand; and, worst of all, this manner of singing 
is largely resorted to in order to increase their member- 



284 "Ammi— My People/' 

ship. N"ot many persons unite with the religions societies 
through the power of their preaching, but through the in- 
fluence of song, and the more sensational the better. The 
short cut is to sing individuals into the Church, and then 
modify the preaching to suit the singing, in order to keep 
them there. By so doing, the imprint of flesh is so indeli- 
bly stamped upon the entire organism that, should you at- 
tempt to remove condemnation, the Spirit of Truth would 
rebel. A more false, abused, and misapplied use of singing 
could not well be invented. Seeing that this gift of God 
can be so basely abused, let the people of God watch with 
increasing interest the sacredness of the spirit of song. Let 
them teach their children its worth by giving them a good 
example. Let them sweeten home and life by teaching 
their children to sing. By so doing, home will have the 
greater hold upon them. Singing will unite the family; 
it will lessen life's burden; it will teach the children the 
spirit of worship and the sacredness of God's altar ; it wdll 
stamp indelibly upon the mind impressions that the con- 
flict of life can never erase. 

While we endeavor to strive to leave to our children an 
earthly inheritance, let us not be 'guilty of robbing them 
of the opportunity of gaining an eternal one. Then, when 
the songs of earth are all sung, and the harps of time are 
hung upon the willows, grant, Lord, that our eternal 
spirits may receive the harps of God, and, with all the re- 
deemed of the earth, join in the chorus of that unending 
song. 

The universal fullness of song, as portrayed through 
the Scriptures, is beautifully set forth in the words of the 
poet: 

"The Bible's harp of Immanuel's love, 
Transmitted to earth from the regions above, 
In blissful strains through the universe rang 
When the sons of the morning in symphony sang 



The Use and Abuse of Song. 285 

Its words are inspired with music sublime, 
Which poesy breathes into heavenly rhyme ; 
The Psalms with the spirit of music are fraught, 
Which David in lyrical ecstasy taught. 

Methinks there was silence, deep, sacred, and long, 
When the Psalmist broke forth into heavenly song ; 
And the universe trembled with holy delight, 
AVhen his soul was inspired with lyrical might. 

And the sons of God shouted for joy in their choir. 
When his soul was inspired with the mystical lyre ; 
Then hushed was their holy ineffable strain 
To catch the sweet flow of the blissful refrain. 

Behold the sweet Psalmist of Israel stand, 
With Immanuel's harp in his glorified hand ; 
He calls on creation to join in accord, 
In praising his Maker, Redeemer, and Lord. 

And all earthly creatures unite in the song, 
And mountains and valleys their anthems prolong ; 
And stars 'mid ethereal regions of light, 
And angels on thrones inconceivably bright, 

And seraphs on pinions of glory-lit fame, 
Respond in beatitudes holy acclaim. 
Praise ye the Lord, through His Spirit and Word 
Let every thing breathing praise sweetly the Lord. 
Heaven's orchestral harmonies blissfully roll 
Through this mystical Book o'er the ears of the soul. 

We seem, when in spirit we read it aright. 
To see standing forth on the portals of light. 
Arrayed in immaculate spotless attire. 
King David in ecstasy leading the choir. 

And Christians, with angelic spirits of light 
Join in with ineffable, holy delight 
Whose anthems of bliss in harmonious strain 
Roll o'er immortality's glory-lit plain." 



SABBATH-SCHOOLS. 

''Prove all things, and hold fast that which is good." — 
Paul. 

Inasmuch as many things are believed and tanght by 
the religions world which the people of God can not ac- 
cept as of Divine origin, the subject demands investigation. 
The simple rejection of a doctrine or principle has no 
merit unless the objection is based upon truth ; nor is the 
mere acceptance of a principle of sufficient warrant to es- 
tablish it. We shall never be deceived because God did not 
give us enough; but the danger lies in our wanting more 
than He gives us : this is the point where mankind has al- 
ways broken faith with God. A reason is therefore de- 
manded for the rejection of the Sabbath-school, and the 
demand is just, and is sustained by the Scriptures ; for says 
the apostle, "Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be 
ready always to give a reason for the hope that is within 
you, with meekness and with fear.^'^ 

It is not expected, in this day of addition, subtraction, 
multiplication, and division of the Word of God, that any 
mortal can change the current from its course ; but a kindly 
warning is divine, and a witness God will have, either for 
or against the truth. The warning can not come from 
those who are in error, but must come from those who are 
not misled, and are willing for righteousness^ sake to warn 
those who are deceived. It is not the prerogative of the 
people of God to begin to measure what the harvest will 
be ; their work is to sow the pure seed. God will take care 
of the harvest. Yet it does happen that, for fear of a 



1 1 Peter ui, 1'5. 

286 



Sabbath-Schools. 287 

stinted reaping, we too often become negligent in onr sow- 
ing, and are too much at ease in Zion. Our children and 
our friends and the world need the truth, and those who 
have it must sow it with a bountiful hand if they would 
reap in like manner. Knowing that to reject a popular 
idol is to face the religious world in battle array, demands 
of him who enters the conflict to gird well his armor, re- 
membering still that God has said, "Xot by might or by 
power shall we succeed, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord.'' 

Should the sword of the Spirit fall where its piercing 
may be felt, it is kindly hoped that none will take unholy 
offense. It is the writer's desire to be kind to all, but not 
to all kinds of doings. "Better is the wound of a friend 
than the kisses of an enemy." So come, let us reason 
together. 

The first reason for rejecting the Sabbath-school is, 
that there is no precedent in the Scriptures, either of pre- 
cept or example, to denote that such an institution should 
be accepted and fostered by the people of God; it stands 
wholly upon the opinions and the authority of uninspired 
men. That the child should be taught the Scriptures 
when of sufficient age to comprehend them is fully ad- 
mitted; it is persistently advocated. But that an institu- 
tion conducted as the modern Sabbath-school is, should be 
the means to accomplish that end is denied with emphasis. 
The modern Sabbath-school is without a single Scriptural 
prop upon which to stand. It was said of Abraham, "I 
know him that he will command his children ^nd his house- 
hold after him, and that they shall keep the way of the 
Lord."^ It remains yet to be found where the command to 
teach children the "way of the Lord" may be applied out- 
side the duty of the parpnt or guardian of such children. 
Parents are commanded time and again, by the Word of 
God, to rear their children in the nurture and admonition 
of the Lord; this is the way that Heaven has sanctioned, 

2 Gen. xviii, 19. 



288 "Ammi— My People/' 

and when it is thus carried into eJflect a blessing will rest 
upon it through life and through eternity. To substitute 
man's way for that which the Lord has ordained, is as- 
suming to add unto the Book of His prophecy, and by the 
eternal wisdom of God this way, at the proper time and 
place, will receive its just reward. 

"For I testify unto every man that heareth the words 
of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto 
these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are 
written in this book/^" Does any one need a more solemn 
warning to teach him caution ? Thef e can be no better way 
of showing a lack of faith in God and His Word than by 
daring to charge Him with giving us an imperfect plan of 
salvation, and by attempting to add thereto. "What art 
thou, man, that thou repliest against God ?"* The J ew- 
ish people and Church lost their purity and the favor of 
God bj attempting just such a thing. God had said, 
"Manna was enough," but they would have quails, and 
that to their confusion and death. David made an at- 
tempt to improve upon God's way of moving the ark of 
the Lord, and received the warning of death for his pre- 
sumption. Nadab and Abihu suffered death for adding 
strange things to the order of God's house. If what the 
Scriptures contain as warnings will not impress men with 
the danger of neglecting God's commands, nothing that 
can be said at this time will avail. The fact, then, that 
Sabbath-schools are without the Scriptural authority of 
precept or example, and that danger surrounds the at- 
tempt to add to the AVord of Truth, is sufficient reason that 
the people of God should refuse to accept such an in- 
stitution. 

Our second reason for not accepting Sabbath-schools is 
that the evil in them predominates over the good; and it 
is a well-known principle in i^hilosophy and human na- 
ture that where the chances are not beneficial, no wise man 



Rev. xxn, 18. * Rom. Ix, 20. 



Sabbath-Schools. 289 

will invest. If this claim can be sustained, no further de- 
mand made for explanation is necessary. 

"Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or the 
tree evil and its fruit evil."^ The fruit of Sabbath-schools 
is worldliness. Since their acceptance by religious bodies, 
their strides toward pride and worldly fashions have been 
more rapid than in any age of their existence. To under- 
take to prove this would be as needless as an attempt to 
prove that the wind blows. The Sabbath-school is the nurs- 
ery of pride, not in theory, but in practice. Children are 
taught from infancy to indulge in fleshly gratifications of 
both mind and body ; and the result is, instead of reverenc- 
ing the Bible as they should, they look with irreverence 
upon much of its teaching. So much that is of the world, 
and of the world only, is associated in their thoughts with 
the Scriptures, that the true meaning of the Word is lost 
sight of. One of the watchwords of Heaven is "Self-de- 
nial," and when this is not heeded, flesh knows no bounds ; 
and there can be no salvation for the soul built upon the 
foundation of flesh. The entire structure of the modern 
Sabbath-school is built upon just such a foundation; and 
for this reason it is in direct opposition to that which it 
claims to accomplish. 

There is no evidence wanting to prove this. Some 
there were who, at one time, stood up in opposition to the 
Sabbath-school, and while so doing were able to hold the 
flesh in restraint; but as soon as Sabbath-schools were in- 
troduced, their power to restrain was lost, and at present 
the general sentiment produced through the Sabbath-school 
Union has them firmly within its grasp. Further, the tend- 
ency is to encourage forwardness in children, which soon 
ripens into conceit and disrespect for family and Church 
discipline ; which if Sabbath-schools had the merit claimed 
for them, would not be possible. Again, the Sabbath- 
school offers an excellent opportunity for poisoning the 



5 Matt, xii, ; 
19 



290 "Ammi— My People/' 

mind of the child with spurious doctrine, as much, if not 
most, of the teaching within its walls is in the hands of 
those whom Scripture calls novices, — persons who are un- 
learned in the Word. A system more dangerous to the 
salvation of the soul could not be invented by the adver- 
sary of God. 

Our third reason for rejecting the Sabbath-school is, 
that it offers an opportunity for parents to shift respon- 
sibility, and, strange as it may seem, this is claimed as a 
valid argument in favor of the Sabbath-school, because 
some children may be reached who, without that institution, 
would go untaught. The issue here is clear and well de- 
fined. That the Infinite Mind which gave man a saving 
Gospel saw this, and more, when the redemption of man 
in Christ was made perfect, is beyond dispute; it was de- 
signed that provision should be made for all conditions of 
mankind, without which there could be no perfect plan of 
salvation. Therefore, the advocates of the opposition are 
placed in conflict with the mind of God, — an attitude so 
unreasonable as to demand no consideration. 

Whatever man may conclude as to the completeness of 
the means of salvation, the voice of Jesus says, "It is fin- 
ished;" the words of the Spirit are that "No man shall add 
thereto." The cry that the changing condition of men 
demands a change in the application of the means of salva- 
tion is not well founded. The history of God's dealings 
with His former people disproves this position, and shows 
it to be at fault. There was no provision made in the 
Mosaic covenant for a change in the keeping of the law. 
The people were to keep it throughout their generations 
forever. The declaration has gone forth, "I am God; I 
change not." 

Again, if every condition of the world requires a change 
in the manner of keeping the commands of God, then the 
condition becomes its own administrator, and establishes a 
principle at war with law in every sense where law is ap- 



Sabbath-Schools. 291 

plied. No ph3^sician will administer in his own case. The 
acceptance of this notion of change would at once and for- 
ever destroy the merits of a Savior. The truth is, the Sab- 
bath-school has sapped the life out of every religious or- 
ganization that has advocated and nourished it; and the 
result is that the religion of Christ has been reduced to 
child's play. If the lessons of the Scriptures mean any- 
thing, it is that we should profit by them. They were 
written for our education; and in order to obtain this, 
we must avoid those actions by which others failed; and 
one of the greatest of these failures was in changing the 
order of God's house. God had given the Israelites one 
tribe from which to supply the priesthood ; but they made 
priests of any tribe. They were given one altar; but in 
their zeal they multiplied altars in order to please the peo- 
ple. For this they were cursed and scattered throughout 
the world ; and they stand to-day as the most powerful liv- 
ing witness on the earth to the truth of the Scriptures. 
The accounts of all past dispensations are fraught with 
confusion and misery because of the God-defying practice 
of usurping the authority to dictate for Heaven. That 
many parents do not teach their children the Scriptures as 
they should — even among those who claim to be the people 
of God — is a fact sadly to be deplored by all sincere people. 
As long as family duties are neglected, so long will our 
children grow up in ignorance of discipline at home and 
abroad, and preaching will have very little effect upon 
them. But the evidence that the Sabbath-school will re- 
move this obstacle is greatly lacking. 

Our fourth reason for not accepting the Sabbath-school 
as an institution for good is, because of the impossibility 
of conducting it without associating with it much that is 
worldly; and hence that system is deficient in the very 
thing in which it should excel. To undertake to teach an 
individual the worth and meaning of the Spirit of Jesus 
without first drawing the line of limit in carnal indulgence, 



292 "Ammi— My People/' 

is to join the Chnrch and the world together. Much of 
the literature offered to the child in the Sabbath-school 
library is fiction or exaggerated stories of unreal incidents. 
The question then arises^ Can the truths of God take shape 
in this association? Can light and darkness dwell to- 
gether? Can the advocates of this so-called sacred insti- 
tution teach the children the Gospel of Christ in the fore- 
noon, and overlook their attendance at baseball in the af- 
ternoon, and that, too, on the Sabbath-day ? Does not the 
one subvert the other, and is not the entire arrange- 
ment in discord with the spirit of the teachings of Jesus? 
It is further to be noted that, by means of the insti- 
tution called the Sabbath-school, the men who lord it over 
God's heritage for filthy lucre's sake, are given an effectual 
opportunity to educate the people to become slaves to selfish 
greed, — a principle directly in opposition to the teachings 
of the Scriptures. Those who will carefully observe the 
working of this invention of men can not help perceiving 
the truth of our remarks. The Sabbath-school, as now 
conducted, is a growing power by which Church discipline 
is ignored and defied. The truth is, the smallest number 
of religious bodies at present have any recognized disci- 
pline by which to test their membership. Like all idol 
worship, this plan has served well in one thing at least: 
which is, to gather quantity B^gardless of quality. By this 
arrangement the child glides so easily from the Sabbath- 
school to membership in the Church, that the principle of 
true repentance is lost, and the cross made of no effect. The 
young, who are always strong and ambitious, usurp con- 
trol of affairs, and older heads and minds, who, by reason 
of experience, should be the better fitted to guide, are sup- 
planted by those who are not, by reason of youth and want 
of experience, capable of the responsibility resting upon 
them. This, as any careful student of the Scriptures may 
discover, is in opposition to the counsel of inspired men. 
The Jewish Church, by adopting the same careless method, 



Sabbath-Schools. 293 

arrived at a point where the prophet of God informed them 
that, "Children shall be your oppressors, and women shall 
rule over you."® The sin of presumption brought this con- 
dition upon the house of Israel, and the like sin will bring 
a like condition upon the Gentiles, 

Our fifth reason why the people of God should reject 
the Sabbath-school, is that it has become a successful in- 
strument for destroying The Faith. There is, and has 
ever been, a compromising spirit controlling the institution 
from its infancy. This feature at once betrays the source 
from which it sprung. The principle being human, it must 
necessarily follow the line of its base ; and here is the point 
at which man has always shown himself the weakest, be- 
cause of the strength of his adversary. The spirit of Anti- 
christ does not design to destroy the principle of faith, but 
to rob it of its saving power by mixing untruth with the 
doctrine upon which faith may rest. The warning from 
Heaven to the faithful in Christ is, "Contend earnestly 
for the faith by taking heed unto the doctrine of God."^ 
This has been the supreme test of God's people in every con- 
flict that they have been called upon to face. The victory in 
Eden was gained by compromise. The readiness of the 
house of Israel to enter into a compromise with the world 
around them resulted in the destruction of their temple, 
the tearing down of their altar, the robbing them of a king, 
and landing them captives in Babylon. So replete is the 
Sabbath-school with this spirit of compromise, that doc- 
trinal lines can not be maintained, and the faith that was 
once delivered to the saints has nothing left to stand on. 
Take from the Sabbath-school a compromising union with 
kindred institutions, and death will follow; for in those 
kindred societies sectarian lines would be re-established, 
adverse to the spirit that fosters the Sabbath-school. It is 
not held that the worldly religious bodies should not advo- 
cate Sabbath-schools. By no means. The contention is, 

«Isa. Ill, 12. 7jude2. 



294 "Ammi— My People/' 

the people of God can not indorse them because of their 
dangerous disposition to overthrow the doctrines of Christ. 
It is rather claimed that the man-made religions would not 
be consistent if the}^ did not accept of them ; being of human 
invention, they have a perfect right to demand recognition 
at the hands of their originators. This is law, and law 
must be respected, if things are to find their level. 

There can be no plan adopted that will better subserve 
the spirit of xlntichrist in gathering the religious bodies of 
the world into organic union, under the power of the beast 
spoken of in the thirteenth chapter of Revelation, than the 
modern Sabbath-school. While it destroys the true faith, 
it builds up a false one in opposition; meantime laying 
claim to reverence for the Scriptures; and by thus throw- 
ing a mask over the real design, it is able to capture thou- 
sands in its snare. That the religious world — outside of 
the people of God — will be gathered into one body, and 
imder one head, to serve the "Mother of Harlots," the 
spirit that opposes Christ and His people, is as plainly fore- 
told as the fall of the house of Israel was foretold by the 
prophets. Blind indeed must be the eyes of the watcher, 
if, after having seen the past so plainly foretold and as 
plainly fulfilled, he should fail to see the future in its true 
light. Few were they of God's ancient people that saw the 
end of their nation as spoken through the words of the 
prophets, and yet all was told that could be, in order to 
warn them. As the end came on apace, the more tender 
and earnest were the words of the watcher, until, blinded 
by imbelief, that people became obdurate, hardhearted, 
stiff-necked, rebellious, and were insensible to every effort 
and dumb to every entreaty. 

The end of this dispensation — or Gentile reign^^is as 
forcibly described in the words of Christ and the apostles 
as was that of the Jews by their prophets. Great was the 
responsibility resting upon the people of the old times, but 
greater still is that which rests upon us, to whom the end 



Sabbath-Schools. 295 

of the world approaches. It was not alone the zeal which 
led that nation to turn a deaf ear to the voice of the 
prophets, but the wrong for which they were zealous. The 
Sabbath-school on the surface seems innocent, and has the 
appearance of containing good; but for this seeming so 
many would not be snared. A bait composed of truth and 
error is the most dangerous temptation that the adversary 
offers to the world. 

In summing up the conclusion, gathering all the evi- 
dence within reach, bringing to the front all that has been 
accomplished, and weighing the result in the light of the 
Scriptures, with an unbiased mind, we are unavoidably 
forced to decide that the longer the Sabbath-school is con- 
tinued, the more blind will its advocates become to the true 
teaching of the Scriptures. That the friends of that in- 
stitution will not accept our decision, no one is more surely 
convinced than the writer ; they may even charge our pres- 
ent paper with heresy and ignorance, built upon false con- 
clusions; still the fact remains that it must stand or fall 
upon its own evidence; and the evidence without doubt 
will sustain the conclusions. There is one sure way of 
choice left for the people of God, and for all others who 
would join with them, — it is better to hearken unto God 
than unto man. 



COLLEGES OE HIGH SCHOOLS AND THEIE RE- 
LATION TO THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 

''Add to your faith knowledge/' — St. Peter. 

That man should crave knowledge is the natural re- 
sult of heredity. The desire to know, or become wise, was 
the incentive that prompted the breach in the Eden of God. 
So deep-rooted is the desire for knowledge that it has fol- 
lowed the generations with increasing eagerness until the 
words of the prophet seem to be all but fulfilled : "Knowl- 
edge shall cover the earth as the waters cover the great 
deep." As our environment expands, our knowledge in- 
creases; as our knowledge increases, our wants multiply; 
and thus, like an automatic machine driven by an ever-in- 
creasing force, man pursues with untiring zeal the path 
that leads to the unknown. 

The fact that all knowledge lies within our environ- 
ment, the bounds of which have never been measured, most 
clearly explains why man was given a mind of unlimited 
expansion. The possession of this faculty by man proves 
conclusively that the endowment must look higher than 
earth for its origin. How reasonable, then, is the statement 
that man received that attribute from God! In viewing 
the field of nature and the law by which it is governed, the 
boundless wisdom of the Creator manifests itself in such 
blissful harmony and perfect simplicity that we can not 
but wonder and adore Him who owns the earth and the 
fullness thereof. 

The presence of a law given to man is evidence that 
man possessed a power capable of receiving that law; and 
since the power of that law lay within man's surroundings, 

296 



Colleges or High Schools. 297 

whatever development man should attain to, was dependent 
upon the use he might make of his environment. That 
his opportunity for development was perfect is evidenced 
by the presence of God and the tree of life on one hand, 
and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil on the other 
hand, presenting a combination of opposite forces, which is 
necessary for the perfect development of any form of 
growth; a principle too lightly considered. 

Man was not without opportunity for acquiring knowl- 
edge, even in the morning of life. The presence of opposite 
forces lent emphasis to his responsibility, — a factor which, 
while it retards growth, gives it a perfectness in maturity. 
A forced plant is always tender, and the product of the hot- 
house is not well flavored. The force of this teaching is, 
that the Divine Mind saw fit to give man the opportunity 
of establishing individualism upon the basis of character, 
which should form the solution of every man's life through 
all time to come. Through the acquisition of knowledge 
we are taught to think, which is the true value of all edu- 
cation. When we once acquire the power to think aright, 
and then demonstrate the thought by the act, we have won 
the victory over self; and not until we have accomplished 
this will we possess any power to help others, however much 
knowledge we may be in possession of. Growth is that 
mysterious development which can follow but one line, — 
the line which leads from the less to the greater. Educa- 
tion is the process of feeding the mind in order to produce 
growth, and so contracted are the lines along this path that 
the mind can not grow unless it be fed ; and by further ob- 
servation the nature of the niaterial that produced the 
growth may be detected. He who seeks to disguise his labor 
here, will certainly reap disappointment for his pains. 

Man possesses less knowledge upon which to build, in 
the beginning, than any other creature in the animal king- 
dom, since all he can know he must learn. Other forms 
of life start with an inherited degree of knowledge suffi- 



298 "Ammi— My People." 

cient to perfect that life by the process of intnition or in- 
stinct; nor is there the least diversion from this law by 
which their existence is governed. The nest of the dove as 
well as that of the sparrow; the habitation of the beaver; 
the life of the lil}^ — through all the many years of their 
increasing generations, — pro^'e conclusively the fullness of 
their inheritance of knowledge, and the lack of power to 
improve upon it. Man has been successful in teaching 
many of the lower orders of creation things not known 
to them by inheritance. He has, however, not as yet been 
able to change their manner of life, or rob them of that 
law wdiich the Creator gave them. That the lower orders 
of life received a completeness of knowledge to perfect 
their existence and maintain their species, needs no proof ; 
and thus we can safely conclude that an increase of power 
in that direction w^ould not have been for their betterment, 
since the design had been fully accomplished. 

This, then, is the purpose of education, — to teach us 
hew to live an ideal life, a life that fills the design of th(». 
Creator. Whatever knowledge we may acquire that lacks 
this test is but dead weight and dangerous to life's progress. 
To guide the mind into the path that leads to the fountain 
of useful knowledge is the true meaning of education; and 
the result when reached can be expressed in one word ; and 
that word is "power." To be vested with power in the 
absence of wisdom to apply it, increases danger in any 
field where life exists. Man being "wonderfully and fear- 
fully made," suggests at once the thought that the work 
to be performed by him should be in proportion to the man- 
ner of his making, and the problem of life has demonstrated 
this conclusion in all ages. Though without wings, he can 
outsoar the eagle ; in one sense club-footed, yet he can win 
the race from the deer; though weak in strength, he can 
conquer the lion ; few are his years, but the oak is his serv- 
ant; in the absence of claws for which to dig, he burrows 
through the mountain; while the sea is his enemy, it has 



Colleges or High Schools. 299 

been made to serve him ; he trembles in the presence of the 
lightning, yet has he harnessed it to his chariot, — and thns 
onward is his course, conquering and subduing, yet al- 
ways reminded that defeat awaits him, and sooner or later 
he, too, shall lie down in silence while the work of his 
hands outlives him. 

But the end is not 3^et. The race with the material is 
run, but the invisible, immaterial, eternal entity, can not 
be forever wrapped with a mantle of clay. And so it is, 
"If a man die, he shall live again;'' and the power of this 
victory lies in the knowledge that has been vouchsafed to 
man; for it is written, "To know God and Jesus Christ 
whom He has sent, is eternal life."' Life is the basis upon 
which creation rests, and the knowledge to live it and per- 
petuate it accompanied the gift. Every organism owes its 
existence to some antecedent cause, and every individual is 
a debtor to that cause in order to perpetuate the species; 
nor is life complete until those demands are satisfied. A 
knowledge of the law that governs the cause is the guide 
through every kingdom where life is to be found. If that 
life is timely and natural, a knowledge of natural law is 
indispensable; otherwise the child by taking poison would 
become its own destroyer ; and until the child receives suffi- 
cient education to teach it that knowledge, it is incapable 
of prolonging its own existence ; and since self-preservation 
is the first instinct of nature, education must begin in the 
morning of life. Education then becomes a necessity, and, 
unless there be a law found that prescribes a limit, there 
can be no stopping place; and the relation between the 
Christian religion and high schools is but natural,. and can 
not be productive of evil. 

But nature says, by her law, that no organism needs 
knowledge of an environment in which it can not live ; and 
for this reason has restricted the limit of knowledge within 
that environment. The tree has no -knowledge of the life 
of the bird. It does not need it; it could not use it if it 



300 "Ammi— My People/' 

had it. The hird has no knowledge of the life of the fish; 
the fish has no knowledge of the life of the mole; and so 
on through the entire field, knowledge is confined vvdthin 
the bounds of the environment. Nature has been kind to all 
her children in that she has not burdened them with what 
they could not use. The man of Tarsus had not lived in 
vain ; he was a close student of nature, and only reveals one 
of her consistent lessons when he declares that "The natural 
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit." He could not 
use them if he had them; hence it would be foolishness to 
give them to him. While this same man had gathered 
largely for the natural man in days that were passed, he 
lived to learn that he had much in his possession which he 
could not use when he endeavored to apply it to another 
field. His words are, "I count it but dross, that I might 
win Christ."^ The reason is, he could not use it ; it would 
not apply to the new field in which he was called to labor. 
Nature has the first claim on everything that comes into 
the world ; and if she is allowed to exercise that claim ac- 
cording to her law, until the product is matured, her prom- 
ise is that it will be good. Nature is too modest to claim 
perfection; she does her work well within her field, and 
the Creator has accepted it as good. It is only when man 
seeks to break her law that she cries out for vengeance, and 
answers that cry with the sentence of death. When man 
and mankind are satisfied with natural life, and have no 
desire higher than nature offers, being content with that 
which is imperfect, then let them use all that time and 
this world offers in order that imperfection may be as 
perfectly imperfect as possible. This is law, and who can 
say it shall not have its course? Every kingdom has its 
law, and to raise an objection at this point would be to 
interfere with law, and the result would be discord. We 
should always use caution in staking off our field, lest we 



1 Phil, lii, 8. 



Colleges or High Schools. 301 

inclose more than we can tend, and make the work greater 
than necessary. 

Again, since it is natural for nature to be modest, it is 
equally graceful for grace to be reserved; and for this 
reason, grace will not receive anything from nature until 
nature has done her part. N'ature must produce the ma- 
terial, and mature it up to a certain point, before grace 
will undertake to offer further development. And in this, 
grace has reserved the right to dictate where the lines shall 
be drawn; and the language of Christ gives no uncertain 
sound: "I thank Thee, Father, Lord of heaven and 
earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and 
prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes; for even so 
it seemed good in Thy sight ."^ 

In order correctly to understand the meaning of 
the words, hahes, and wise and prudent, we refer to 
the language of Paul in 1 Corinthians i, 26 : ^'For 
ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men 
after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are 
called.'' Here is the line that grace draws in calling her 
servants; not many wise men after the world in the past 
and the present, have proven their claim to be called well 
founded. It was not the worldly wise men that heard our 
Lord's teaching; it was not the wise men that hearkened 
unto the apostles, but the common people. High schools and 
colleges, and their advocates, occupy unprofitable ground. 
The people of God can not use them, because the material 
gathered from them belongs exclusively to another king- 
dom, and at the .best can but produce imperfect fruit ; and 
the further result is, when an imperfect workman has 
labored with the material, he not unfrequently mars it so 
that it can not be made perfect ; and for this reason grace 
refuses to accept it. 

Grace can use wise men of the world upon one condi- 



2 Matt, xi, 25. 



302 "Ammi— My People/' 

tion, and that condition is^ she wants the mauj but not his 
material. If the man will part with his imperfect power, 
and accept the perfect, there can be a reconciliation. But 
few men and women will do this, and in case they make the 
effort to hold on to the natural, and attempt to gain the 
spiritual, the result is that their labor will end in nothing. 
The pages of history are replete with the lives of wise men 
who have been shipwrecked while trying to serve two 
masters. 

From the schools of the prophets down to the school of 
Clement of Alexandria in Egypt, and from thence to the 
present time, classical scholars have stood in opposition to 
the simplicity of the Gospel of Christ. Every innovation 
and departure from the faith, as taught by Jesus and the 
apostles, has been first introduced by men of much worldly 
wisdom. Were it not for this class of men, the religious 
world would not be broken into factions as we see it to- 
day. Destroy the source from which the wisdom of words 
came, and the cross will have more effect. ISTot that the 
people of God are opposed to education ; by no means. The 
stand is taken only against the abuse of the principle; 
there is no benefit in gathering power where it can not be 
used, or in gathering knowledge that will darken the way. 
The conclusion must follow, from the evidence that can 
be presented, that colleges and high schools stand in a dan- 
gerous relation to the Christian religion. 

They are dangerous, because of the tendency to make 
men high-minded and proud, both in word and action, 
which is in opposition to the Spirit of Christ. They are 
dangerous, because of advocating a moneyed ministry, 
which can not serve God, and will not serve the people 
save for gain ; and the evidence which they give is, the more 
gain the more godliness, — a principle antagonistic to the 
Christian religion. They are dangerous, because few of 
the world's wise men have ever accepted the Gospel in its 



Colleges or High Schools. 303 

sim23licity ; this fact is borne out by the action of Grod in 
choosing His servants in all dispensations. 

While it is true that the Apostle Paul was a man of 
learning, it is equally true that he has told us he could 
not use his worldly wisdom in the cause of Christ. His 
words are: '^^Ind I, brethren, when I came to you, came 
not with excellenc}^ of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto 
you the testimony of God. . . . And my speech and 
my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wis- 
dom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: 
that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, 
but in the power of God.''^ Here is the solution of the 
danger of gathering much of this world's wisdom, — men 
are apt to build their faith upon it instead of the plain 
Word of God. ]^ot until the wisdom of this world was 
allowed to dictate what the Scriptures meant did faith be- 
gin to decline. 

Nothing has been so fatal to doctrinal preaching as the 
educated ministry produced by the theological schools. And 
the truth is, the faith of the present religious world relies 
more upon the wisdom of men than upon the Word of God. 
If the wisdom of words would make the cross of Christ of 
none effect in the time when Paul preached it, is it not 
equally as dangerous now? After carefully scrutinizing 
the general drift of the religious world from the time that 
the Gospel was preached by unlearned men, and comparing 
the condition of the Church then with the evidence at hand 
of its present state, are we not justified in asking ourselves 
the question, If Jesus would again personally choose men 
to advocate His Word, would He not do as He once did? 
If the Gospel was safe in the hands of the common people 
and unlearned men when the world was as much given 
to idolatrous worship as now, is there any reason why it 
would not be fully as safe in the same control at this time ? 
There can be but one answer to these questions, and that 



1 Cor. ii, 1. 



304 "Ammi— My People." 

is, — the wisdom of this world is not capable of compre- 
hending the simplicity of the principles npon which the 
doctrine of salvation is founded. Nothing was more in 
favor of the cause of Christ than the power which those 
unlettered men were able to wield in the presence of the 
wise men with whom they contended. Shall not the same 
Spirit empower the man that will seek its aid now? Does 
not the promise which the Lord gave to the disciples still 
hold good, wherein He said, "The Comforter whom I will 
send may abide with you forever?" When we reach the 
condition where we are not willing to trust the Spirit, can 
we reasonably expect the Spirit to trust us? 

The contention here is not against education as a prin- 
ciple, but against the abuse of the power that education 
gives. So long as we endeavor to use our God-given talents 
in their proper field and for their proper object, and not 
abusing them, we are upon lawful grounds. But attempt- 
ing to learn the doctrine of Christ at the school of Gama- 
liel, is to produce a scholar that will repeat the deeds of 
Paul of Tarsus, and persecute Jesus of Nazareth. In no 
field of science are men so inconsistent as in learning the 
principles of the religion of Christ. When we would learn 
astronomy, we study the heavens. When we would learn 
botany we go to the plant. When we would learn geology, 
we go to the earth. When we would learn theology, we go 
to a theological school; but theology is as far from Chris- 
tianity as the Pharisees were from heaven. The fact is 
sustained by our present surroundings, that the more 
theology the world gets, the less Christianity is manifested 
in the world. The school of Christ is the only one where 
man can learn the Spirit of Christ; and whatever else we 
may learn or obtain possession of, if we have not the Spirit 
of Christ, we are none of His. 

What, then, is the school of Christ ? Until that term is 
defined, we are only half informed. In the school of 
Gamaliel, Gamaliel was the teacher ; in the school of Christ, 



Colleges or High Schools. 305 

Christ is the teacher; and in the school of theology, 
theology is the teacher. This is law and order; and the 
result is that every teacher who succeeds, leaves his im- 
print upon his pupil. The teacher whom Christ vouch- 
safed to the disciples was the Holy Spirit, and He gave 
them the assurance that He would abide with them forever 
if they would heed His teaching. Can we not reasonably 
conclude that the same promise is to all who will accept 
His teaching? The prayer of Jesus was not only for His 
present disciples, but for all that would believe on Him 
through their word; and all the blessings that He had 
promised them would also be enjoyed by all who would fol- 
low them. The promise is, "He will guide you, He will 
teach you. He will bring all things to 3^our remembrance 
whatsoever I have said unto you." If the Holy Spirit be 
our helper, shall Ave lack anything? If the Holy Spirit 
interprets the Scriptures for us, can we be led astray ? Or, 
does the man need a collegiate education before the Holy 
Spirit will guide him ? 

Lastty, do not the past dealings of God with His people 
negative the preceding questions? N^othing can prove 
more forcibly the absence of the Spirit of Christ in a re- 
ligious movement than a high estimate of and confidence 
in the theological schools supported by such movement. 
It demonstrates that they are not willing to trust the Spirit, 
but seek a power foreign and in opposition to the Spirit of 
the Master. Can we wonder why darkness is covering the 
earth, and gross darkness the people ? The wisdom of this 
world may give a man power to preach, but nothing short 
of the Spirit of Christ will permit him to practice the doc- 
trine of the Gospel. 

It has been said the wisdom of this world is foolishness 
with God, and that God has chosen the foolish things of 
the world to confound the wise, and weak things to con- 
found the things that are mighty, and bas6 things and 
things that are despised hath God chosen — ^yea, and things 
20 



306 "Ammi— My People/' 

which are not, to bring to naught things that are — that no 
flesh should glory in His presence. Let the Holy Spirit 
take charge of the colleges of the present day, and very 
soon will they become monuments of folly. Mankind will 
get no honor from this world in learning to master the 
foolish things ; men do not wish to spend their money and 
time in learning to master the weak and base things of the 
world. It is the knowledge that puffeth up that men and 
minds want ; and their actions prove that they possess what 
they have striven to obtain. 

It must be obvious to the careful student of the doc- 
trine of Christ that the whole system of the modern relig- 
ious world is based upon unbelief and false faith. The 
world is a friend to such things, because such things are 
of the world; but he that is a friend to the world is an 
eremy to Grod. History, both sacred and profane, proves 
that the people of God have ever stood in opposition to 
that which destroys the simplicity of the Christian relig- 
ion, and occupy the same ground to-day; and as long as 
this standard is maintained, so long will the Spirit have a 
field in which to work. That their influence will grow 
less in the world is admitted, and that by and by the wis- 
dom of this world will set at naught the entire plan of 
salvation to the extent that the salt will have lost its sav- 
ing power, is but to accept the prophecy that Christ ut- 
tered when among men. 



SECEET SOCIETIES. 

The saying that "Everything seeks its leveF' expresses 
a broad truth in a few words. The application can be made 
so general that we are apt to pass it by without due con- 
sideration^ and in this way lose the force of the saying. 
That man can better overcome the obstacles that confront 
him in life by combined effort^ is no more true than that 
all other forms of life can do the same with like effort. 
Prompted by the law of instinct or self-defense^ this char- 
acteristic is possessed by the lower orders of life almost in 
common with man; but seldom is a combination found 
other than along lines of equality of species or kind, Noth- 
ing can unite individuals of any class so firmly as union of 
design or mutual welfare. The meeting in a common in- 
terest brings an equality of purpose, thus multiplying force 
to meet the demand. 

However far these conclusions may be from explaining 
the true cause for the ever-increasing number of societies 
which surround us, they at least serve as a basis for our 
present purpose. As the nations grow older and popula- 
tion becomes more dense, the conditions of existence be- 
come more complex, and the life-struggle gathers intensity. 
The more crowded the field, the heavier the demand for 
support, and in the end the struggle has resolved itself 
into the survival of the fittest, which means the weak must 
support the strong, thus reversing the true conditions of 
the social order. 

That many societies are diametrically opposed to each 
other along certain lines, in the strife for supremacy, needs 
no qualification at this time. In consequence of this, there 
is a combination of power contending against a combina- 

307 



308 "Ammi— My People." 

tion of power; and in the weighing of chances under the 
present conditions with chances in the absence of these con- 
ditions^ there seems to be very little^ if anything, gained on 
either side. Hence, in order to solve the problem of ex- 
istence upon the basis of equality to all, we are forced to 
look beyond what men have offered for a solution. 

May it not be that, still deeper down and all but un- 
seen, lies a cause which may explain the modern condition 
of society, as well as offer a remedy for the same? The 
position that the All-wise Creator, through His infinite 
wisdom, arranged by natural law that the needs of man 
could be supplied under any conditions when man has 
done his part to meet those conditions, is thought to be 
tenable ground upon which to build for a solution of the 
problem that confronts us. It is further claimed that there 
are no conditions, circumstances, positions, or relations in 
which man may be found in this life for which God in His 
revelation has not made goodly provision, when man will 
faithfully do his part. Should this be successfully denied, 
then perfection in revelation is wanting, as also in its 
Author, and man stands upon the sands of uncertainty. 

However presumptuous and false this claim may seem 
to be, it is the inevitable result of law. A certain wise man 
has said that, "Every proposition for discussion should be 
founded upon at least two incontrovertible facts." This 
requirement we have complied with by way of introducing 
this subject. The statement referred to is a wise one, and 
all disputants should heed it. No wise man will waste his 
time and labor in contending for fictions or shadows. Life 
is a fact, and the conditions necessary for the support of 
life are facts ; but man by transgression of law may place 
himself in depressing situations, from which there is no 
positive relief except by right living. Others may provide 
for him, and even for his family ; still the man himself is 
simply a parasite, and belongs to the lowest form that is 
called life. 



Secret Societies. 309 

That many of the modern ways of this world are in 
opposition to the way of Heaven is too lightly considered. 
When once the sin of presumption so takes possession of 
man as to tempt him to set his way above that of his Maker, 
he becomes co-partner with Satan in opposing God. The 
eternal God gave to the world but two institutions, the 
family and the Church, and has decreed that within these 
are afforded every means by which man's support, peace, 
and happiness may be attained. In the family, man finds 
a home, a refuge, a comfort. When he is true to his call- 
ing and true to his Maker, who provided the associations of 
home for him, he needs no further auxiliary to attain his 
ends. 

It is not affirmed that this provision was intended to 
supply the unnecessary desires of the man, but his legiti- 
mate needs. When our wants are circumscribed within 
these limits, then life is full and we will be happy, and 
home becomes a foretaste of heaven. This was the design 
of God when bestowing upon man the institution of the 
family. So sacred is this principle that God has likened it 
unto His own relation to man: "I will be a Father unto 
you, and you shall be My sons and My daughters, saith the 
Lord."^ Mankind generally indulges to excess in living, 
and thus many superfluous wants are to be satisfied. To 
gratify his sensual appetites he resorts to intemperate 
means. Thus we find the general trend of human life is 
not the real life that the Creator has made provisions for. 
In many instances man has become a slave to such un- 
natural wants. 

^0 part of the natural world has proven so false to 
the law given by its Maker as man. Through the many 
centuries of existence nature has ever proven to be in ac- 
cord with the edict of her Designer. So long as man re- 
mains normal, he moves in harmony with nature. When 
this point is passed there is no limit to his aberration, and 

12 Cor. vi, 18. 



310 "Ammi— My People/' 

an ever-increasing unrest drives him still farther toward 
the preternatural. And when the whole field of human 
life is carefully searched^ it will be found that every so- 
ciet}^, secret or opeh^ social or religious, save the family 
and the Church, is built upon the unnatural, unsatisfied 
craving of man. The history of the world proves beyond 
contradiction, that man, as man, has never undertaken to 
build an addition to what God has made, that he did not 
fail in the end and lose all his labor. 

The home, when it embodies the attributes which give 
the word its meaning, will in the most complete sense re- 
spond to man^s needs. It will give steady employment ; it 
will teach him the necessity for economy; it will, by the 
true tie that should bind him to home and loved ones, im- 
press him with his responsibility as a protector, wherein 
he is akin to his Maker. It offers him a place of rest and 
the associations that make it sweet. It demands of him 
purity of manhood in ever}^ path where duty may call him. 
It explains to him the worth of confidence, and rewards 
him doubly for his integrity. It reveals to him the tender- 
ness of love, and will make him -perfect in loving. It fits 
him for the highest demands of life, and prepares him for 
times of adversity. This is the power that family and 
home give every man who honors and preserves the divine 
institution of heaven. Because of disrespect for family and 
home; because of infidelit}^ to promises which should have 
been held sacred; because of duties unperformed and ob- 
ligations neglected; because of unnatural desires in many 
cases, if not in a greater or less degree, in all, — on account 
of such deficiencies man demands associations other than 
those which God has given. Not that all which secret so- 
cieties stand for is bad; by no means. Neither can it be 
said that all they stand for is good. When a correct esti- 
mate is made, and both sides are given their due weight, the 
preponderance of evidence, it is feared, will be found upon 
the side of the bad. 



Secret Societies. 311 

But there is another light in which these institutions 
of man must be tested. The family and home have their 
field and obligations ; when the demands of these are prop- 
erty satisfied, the home is fitted for a broader and higher 
sphere of development. The natural having been made 
effective, man is prepared for the spiritual. Life is pro- 
gression, growth, an onward movement until the goal is 
reached; each step prepares man for the next higher; and 
this opportunity is given him through the institution which 
Jesus Christ named the Church. In these two institutions, 
the family and the Church, are found the fullness of man's 
heritage on earth, as decreed by his Creator. 

Shall man want more ? "Who hath known the mind of 
the Lord? Or who hath been his counselor?" Shall the 
thing formed say unto Him who formed it, "Why hast 
Thou made me thus?" The family is but the stepping- 
stone to the Church; the one equips man for the duties of 
the other. The Church opens the wide vestibule that ad- 
mits the purity and sweetness of the home. It is the further 
extension of the building whose foundation was laid in the 
sacredness of the home. The Infinite Mind of the Creator 
so wisely laid the foundation of the home that, like leaven, 
it is bound to expand. The influence of a well-ordered 
home can no more be confijied within its own bounds than 
a river within its banks when a dam is constructed across 
its course. Let the mission of the home have its course, 
and, upon the most common principle of law, it will form 
an institution, as the streamlets form a river, whose course 
will be along parallel lines with the mission of the Church, 
providing the Church is what God designed it to be. And 
this proves that the order of Heaven is reasonable and 
good. 

In the combination of these two institutions is offered 
to man the broadest avenue that life can give; and when 
man has properly filled all the demands that meet him 
here, his life will be full, and God has nothing further to 



312 "Ammi— My People/' 

require of him. And so the apostle was right when he 
said, '^Ye are complete in Him." Grant the home and the 
Church universal sanction in their power to purify and 
sweeten every path in life, and there will be no place or 
work for any society or order that man may invent. But 
give the lodges, Women's Clubs, Knights, Elks, Eebeccas, 
and an almost endless and still increasing number of others 
the preference, and no observing mind need ask what the 
result will be. The result is before us, and that to the 
nation's shame. An innumerable company of witnesses 
encompass us on every hand. Nor need we ask why these 
things are so. 

This nation, the most favored by God of any nation 
upon the earth, is trembling under the cloud of crime that 
darkens every page of her daily history. The blighting, 
blistering, blackening, deadening institutions of men and 
women are tares of the enemy's sowing; and every passing 
moment adds fertility to the soil, until the pollen from this 
luxurious growth, borne upon the wings of the wind, is 
fashioned into the seeds of immorality that is destroying 
the power of the home and the Church. No nation can 
have any power for good so long as the institutions of God 
are trampled under foot. The cry may be, "Peace, peace/' 
but there can be no peace resulting from unrighteousness 
and corruption. 

It is not claimed that the objection to many of these 
societies is based upon the meaning of the word secret, as 
applied to them, but upon their principles, as being in op- 
position to God's way and will. It has ever been the mind 
and work of the rebellious spirit and the flesh to counter- 
feit the product of heaven ; and here is a most fertile field 
for the opportunity. These societies, as they surround us, 
carry within themselves the falsehood of accomplishing 
good, when at the same time they stand in opposition to 
good ; because they are founded upon a principle that is in 
opposition to Him who alone is good. Many of them as- 



Secret Societies. 313 

sume the responsibility of feeding the body at the expense 
of the greater responsibility of starving the soul. They 
claim charity as a virtue^ after having subverted and 
ignored the true basis upon which charity has saving power. 
Many of them pretend to build upon Faith and Hope, 
when, strictly speaking, they deny the premises upon which 
faith rests ; and for hope they have nothing but this world 
(and not even much of the good that is in it) to offer, and 
that is misery, from the standpoint of Paul. "For if in 
this world we only have hope, ... we are of all men 
most miser able.'' Laying aside prejudice and animosity, or 
anything that may have a tendency to bias the mind, 
calmly and fairly speaking, as we would want in eternity 
to answer, are we not to conclude that the entire structure 
of all organizations of men, standing in opposition to the 
way of Heaven, can reach no higher than this present ex- 
istence, and as such prove themselves insufficient to give 
man any real and lasting benefit ? Still further, by such a 
procedure the result must necessarily be disappointment in 
the end, brought about by means more or less deceptive and 
sinful. 

Thus far our conclusions have been drawn from nat- 
ural results, based upon the inevitable consequence of law 
as applied to the natural field. But this is not all ; we are 
not left in the least doubt as to which side of the ques- 
tion the Spirit bears testimony. The greatest emphasis is 
placed upon the fact running throughout the Scriptures, 
"I am God, and beside Me there is no other. As the 
heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher 
than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." 
While the Mosaic covenant was not intended to give man 
more than the pattern of the heavenly, it did give him a 
perfect standard of moral law. There was no condition of 
society for which provisions were not made. There were 
the widow and the orphan, the stranger and the fatherless, 
the servant and his master, the king and his subjects, the 



314 ^'Ammi— My People/' 

neighbor and his enemy; in shorty so complete was that 
divinely appointed institution that, when obeyed^ all were 
made to share in its goodness and blessings, even to the 
beasts of the field and the very earth itself. 

Nor is evidence wanting as to the result of that pro- 
vision. So long as that people kept sacred the covenant 
which God had given them, all that was promised was 
received and enjoyed, to the extent that their enemies had 
no power' over them ; and this is the fullness of any cove- 
nant. This being only the shadow of that which was to 
come, leads ns to expect a greater fullness in the substance, 
— ^the Gospel of Christ. 

If that which was imperfect by reason of death, could 
give such a fullness of blessings, shall not the Spirit, by 
reason of life, give more? The Apostle Paul, in speaking 
of these two institutions, says, "The former had. no glory, 
by reason of the excellency of the glory of the latter."^ 
"For if the ministration of death was glorious, how much 
more shall the ministration of life exceed in glory."^ Here 
is the testimony of one who lived under both covenants, and 
of a man who lived to the limit of what was offered him. 
If evidence is worth anything, it must be for confirmation, 
and by this means we are taught that the j)ro visions of 
God for man^s good and development need no auxiliaries by 
which to perfect His purposes. The Church which was 
ordained "by the spirit of life in Christ Jesus" embraces 
all the opportunities that this life can give for the enjoy- 
ment and happiness of man, and assures him the promise of 
the blessedness of the one which is to come. And nothing 
but a lack of confidence and faith in God and His Word 
can prompt man to reject it. 

One of the most contradictory evidences that the mod- 
ern religious world gives of its faith in the New Testa- 
ment Scriptures is the uniting with, and partaking of, the 
institutions of men. Whilst there can be no lawful ex- 



2 2Cor. m, 10. 3 2Cor. m, 9. 



Secret Societies. 315 

cnse for retaining such organizations in the world, some 
degree of indulgence by way of forbearance can be granted 
to those who will not accept anything better ; but for those 
who, by pretense or sincerity, claim to accept Christ and 
His Word, and then join with that which stands in oppo- 
sition to God, — ^to such there can be no favors granted. 
The tree being good, the fruit must be likewise; but men 
do not gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of thistles. That 
all S3^stems of human device are built upon unbelief is 
very evident to the rational observer. Then, if one who 
professes to be a believer in the doctrine of Jesus Christ 
joins with unbelievers and with the world at large, he is 
opposing the truth by throwing a mask over his religion. 
AVas it not this principle that the Apostle Paul condemned 
when he said: "Be je not unequally yoked together with 
unbelievers; for what fellowship hath righteousness with 
unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with 
darkness? and what part hath he that believeth with an 
infidel ? Come out from among them, and be ye separate, 
and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you."* 

In many of the societies of men, whether they be re- 
ligious or otherwise, there are a number whose lives are 
impure; and among them are not a few who deny the 
divinity of the Scriptures, and are not only unbelievers but 
ungodly men, knowing no God. The nature of the oath 
taken, when they are initiated into the order, in some cases 
binds the members to protect one another even when guilt 
is known to be established. Many of their customs, rites, 
and ceremonies partake of the nature of idolatry; and 
men there are who, while professing to follow the teaching 
of the Gospel, join these societies, and by so doing make 
themselves partakers of that which is opposed to Christ. 
Can a combination of untruths prove other than false in 
the end? 

Again, there remains another serious effect upon the 



*2Cor. vi, 14. 



316 "Ammi— My People/' 

mind and lives of men who are in league with this modern 
giant. So deadening is its influence upon the mind that 
when once its victim, the member is always its prey. Few, 
very few, have been the men who have been able to cast off 
its fetters. To them the Church has no merit ; it offers no 
higher opportunities in life ; it has no fascination for them ; 
another has charmed them, and they mock God and His 
Church by presuming to have a better fold. What effect 
can the square and compass have for the uplifting of men 
when applied in laying the foundation of a building in op- 
position to God and truth? God Himself works to the 
line, but that line is judgment; and uses the plummet, in 
order to establish righteousness in judgment. "Behold, I 
lay judgment to the line, and righteousness to the plum- 
met.^' Little worth is a compass to the world in locating 
a circle in darkness and unbelief. The titles which those 
who control many of these organizations are given in the 
order of their advancement show an irreverence for God 
and holy things. The act of associating the names of Mas- 
ter, Grand Master, Worshipful Master, etc., is, to say the 
least, but adding insult to injury, and blasphemy to the 
truth. 

Need anything more be said in order to satisfy the 
people of God that they can have no part in such things? 
Hear the words of Jesus in regard to these things: "Ye 
can not serve God and mammon.^^ Can a pure stream flow 
from an impure fountain? It is not expected, in this day 
of unbelief and apostasy from God, to turn the course of 
this wild current; yet it is greatly desired to give a timely 
warning to all lovers of truth for truth's sake, that we be 
not chargeable to any one in the great day of reckoning, 
when the secrets of men's hearts shall be revealed. And it 
is fondly hoped that our children and kind friends, who 
are many, may be able to gather something as a warning, 
that will help them to escape the devourer. And so de- 
ceptive is it that the words of the psalmist are perfect in 



Secret Societies. 317 

describing it: "In vain does the fowler set his snare in 
the sight of an}^ bird."^ The object has been to treat this 
subject fairly, in the fear of God, as it is to Him we shall 
answer, and not to the craftiness of men. Were we to 
treat it in all its forms, this paper would demand more 
than its share of space. 

Nothing can be more true than that one error follows 
another; one society gives rise to another society; but by 
and by the lines of demarcation will be obliterated, and 
under one final insignia will the spirit of Antichrist be 
gathered. Upon thousands of the old and young in our 
every midst has this monster, as a mighty leech, fastened 
its consuming power, until family and homes are neglected ; 
indifference toward God and His Word is promoted; little 
respect attends His service or people; and, as a blighting 
curse, it saps the lives of hundreds of thousands of men that 
would have been devoted to the Church but for its in- 
fluence. This, itself, is enough to prostrate the cause of 
righteousness such orders falsely lay claim to. Yet, added 
to this, many of its advocates claim the right to be called 
Christian. Verily we have arrived to the time "when evil 
men and seducers shall wax worse and worse ; deceiving and 
being deceived,^^ who, after professing a form of godliness, 
turn and deny the power thereof. Well did the apostle 
say, "Many walk of whom I have told you often, and now 
tell you, even weeping, that they are the enemies of the 
cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is 
their belly, whose glory is their shame, who mind earthly 
things.^*^ To the people of God; to the fathers and 
mothers of this country; to the youths of our land; to 
young men and maidens; to friends everywhere and in all 
places, let it be said in the name of the Son of God, "What 
I say unto you, I say unto all : Watch ?' 



5 Prov. i, 17. 6 piiii. iii^ 18, 19. 



NONCONFOEMITY. 

There is no law to which the natural world and nat- 
ural things adhere more closely than to the law of non- 
conformity. The Divine Creator, through His infmitc 
wisdom, saw that by this means alone could individuality 
of type be perpetuated. Destroy the law of nonconformity, 
and the entire system of creation becomes chaos. The 
truth of this principle correctly stated would be, Noncon- 
formity establishes law; in the absence of the principle of 
nonconformity this would be a world of chance, with no 
defined purpose; and hence without result. It is only by, 
and through, the unchangeable law of nonconformity that 
man is enabled to arrive at any definite conclusions. 

Of such grave importance is the principle of noncon- 
formity that, should it be suspended, there is not a busi- 
ness profession in the civil pursuits of life that would out- 
live it ; there is not an army in battle array but that would 
be defeated by its own confusion. So universal is the prin- 
ciple of nonconformity, or the law of individuality of type, 
that it is indelibly stamped upon the smallest portion of 
matter by which we are surrounded, and each succeeding 
development is fashioned by the force of it. This silent, 
incomprehensible power has arrested the attention of man 
in all ages; and his curious mind has led him into many 
experiments, which have increased his knowledge, but have 
not changed the law; and onward still it goes, molding, 
guiding, directing every particle of matter in the universe." 

We pause, and ask ourselves the question. Can nature 
contain a force or law so far-reaching in effect, and have 
no counterpart in grace? In other words, since there is 
but one law, may not an analogy to the natural be found 

318 



i^OXCONFORMITY. 319 

in the spiritual? If the material is the school in which 
we learn the immaterial, we are there taught that harmony 
and ponsistency give assurance of counterparts in the nat- 
ural and the spiritual. Nor can it be logically claimed that 
the assurance is unreasonable ; on the contrar}^ it would be 
unreasonable to assert that such is not the case, where two 
kingdoms are governed by the same law. This principle 
is clearly taught in all the important lessons of the Scrip- 
tures. Deny this, and there is no meaning in parable- 
teaching. The basis of every spiritual truth is found in 
the realm of the natural. So closely are the two king- 
doms related that, where there is a mystery in one, there 
is a corresponding mystery in the other. 

Take, for example, the circumstance of growth; who 
can look upon the smallest plant forcing its way through 
earth and air, in defiance of the power called gravit}^ 
whose irresistible force draws everj^thing to a common cen- 
ter, and not feel the mystery of that silent power called 
growth? All growth is mysterious, whether inert or or- 
ganic. The wider the environment, the more complex the 
organism; the higher in the organic scale the individual 
rises, the more mysterious the growth, until man is reached, 
the highest in the order of natural development. That 
there is an environment other than the natural exerting 
its force upon man, needs no proof to the mind that is 
interested in our^subject; and those who are not so inter- 
ested we entertain no hope of reaching. As the plant ex- 
pands or grows in opposition to the power in its surround- 
ings, so man, in response to his spiritual environment, 
grows in grace and the knowledge of the truth, in opposi- 
tion to his lower surroundings, and in spite of the destruc- 
tive powers of sin. In either case there is a parallel mys- 
tery, because of a parallel gi'owth. In both instances the 
words of Jesus are appropriate, "It cometh not by observa- 
tion." But however mysterious and slow the growth may 
be, there needs be no fear as to what class the matured 



320 "Ammi— My People/' 

product will belong ; the unchangeable law of nonconform- 
ity, or individuality of type, assures us of this. So well 
understood is this law in natural things, that no one enter- 
tains a doubt in respect to it. To seek for the analogy of 
law in conformity to type in the spiritual kingdom, is the 
problem we have set ourselves to solve. 

That the people of God through all ages have been a 
separate class from the people of the world is affirmed by 
the Scriptures many times over. The nature of the law 
by which they were governed was sufficient to produce a 
people separated from the nations of the earth by the most 
rigid lines. The manner of their calling ; the relation that 
they were commanded to maintain toward other peoples; 
the law of their worship as well as the object of their wor- 
ship, — all combined to produce a type fashioned after the 
mind of God, and not after the manner of the world. Nor 
could the result have been otherwise. Lying at the foun- 
dation of all worship is the one immovable fact, that the 
worshiper will, in proportion to his fidelity, partake of the 
nature or attributes of the thing worshiped. This is the 
unerring test of all worship that man has ever engaged in. 
We need only consider the principle attentively to be as- 
sured of its correctness. If man can once be deprived of 
the belief that the object of his devotion is superior to him- 
self, all religious service will end. - Destroy the faith and 
hope that the heathen has in his god, and sacrifices to the 
god will case; for man can not be induced to worship a 
god whom he feels to be his inferior. It is not necessary 
that man be in possession of the real character of his god 
to produce service from him ; so long as his convictions are 
real, his service is secure, whether the god be true or false. 
In this one feature all religions are alike. 

No one can doubt the conviction of those who worship 
idols or false gods; the only room for criticism is in the 
question, Does the thing worshiped possess the attributes 
that will make the worshiper better by his service ? This is 



Nonconformity. 321 

the crucial test of any religion ; and until man has fully set- 
tled the question he can not determine the worth of his re- 
ligion. A religion that lacks this test has no right to claim 
merit. And here is the superiority of the Christian re- 
ligion; it answers every demand that man can make upon 
it that is for his development in righteousness, because of 
the sufficiency of its Author, who in Himself contains all 
power both in heaven and upon earth, and in whom "dwells 
the fullness of the Godhead bodily.^' "Ye are complete in 
Him," answers all demands that man can make for content 
in this life, or for perfection in that which is to come. 

The effect of the Christian religion is to make the yvor- 
shiper conform to the thing worshiped; to make mankind 
like Christ; to help man to conform to the type. This 
thread is woven throughout the whole plan of salvation; 
and when the thread is lost, the garment is rent. Naturally 
man, in common with all other products of creation, follows 
the law with unwavering certainty. Had there been a type 
upon earth sufficiently developed by natural law, or if nat- 
ural law could have produced a t3^pe that would meet the 
demand of God, there would have been no need of God 
manifesting Himself in the flesh. But natural law was 
weak, and could not meet the requirements of heaven. In 
evidence of this Paul is willing to be heard. His words are : 
"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak 
through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the like- 
ness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the 
flesh."^ The flesh, by reason of sin^ had no power to pro- 
duce a type of manhood and womanhood that would meet 
the requirements of God. Hence a pattern, or type, having 
the perfections to satisfy the Divine Mind must be given 
to man in order to raise him to that station where fellow- 
ship and communion could again be established between 
him and his Creator. Herein are grace and mercy built 



1 Rom. viii, 3. 
21 



322 "Ammi— My People." 

upon love on the part of God, who created man for His 
glory. 

The natural man which God formed from the dust of 
the earth was all that the Creator designed him to be ; the 
work was good, and very good. What man lost that un- 
fitted him for producing a type acceptable to God, was due 
to an endowment which he received after his material or- 
ganism had been completed. In order to sustain this con- 
clusion we quote again from the apostle : "God sending His 
own Son in the likeness of siiiful flesh."^ From this it 
will appear that Jiesli, as flesh, was all that God designed it 
to be. Whatever degeneration man underwent up to this 
time, when the type was to be introduced, was not charge- 
able to flesh because it was flesh, but from another source 
entirely. The cause lay in the endowment which man had 
received as a gift, — an after consideration other than mate- 
rial flesh or body. This endowment was spirit and mind 
(or soul), a gift from the Creator to the creature; and thus 
man bears in his body a part of God as well as His image. 
In this degree man is said to be eternal, being possessed of 
an attribute from God. Through sin and transgression he 
severed his connection with God, the t3'pe. Hence he had 
no standard by which he could be reclaimed ; and not until 
he could be brought in contact with a type that the Mind 
of God had produced, could he know what was God's ideal. 
The mind of man had developed in tremendous proportions 
before the revelation came from Heaven concerning this 
type; but the result was confusion, the product of my- 
thology; the only result that could be expected in the ab- 
sence of law. 

In the person of Jesus Christ the world received the 
Spirit and Mind of God. By this is meant, — through the 
manifestation of supernatural power the Spirit of God was 
witnessed. Through the manner of applying that power 
the Mind of God was known. Herein lies the infinite de- 



2 Rom. vili, 3. 



Nonconformity. 323 

sign that prompted the creation of all that was made, in 
order to display the Mind of God. "It is the Lord's doings, 
and marvelous in our eyes." Jesus Christ, being the Son 
of God, by God's own Spirit and Mind, was given to the 
world as an Ideal, or Type, to which man is to conform; 
and by so conforming he is relieved of any further care. 
This is the highest, the holiest, and the last demand that 
God has made, or ever will make, upon the race of man- 
kind. He now asks us "to be conformed to the Image of 
His Son."^ Here is the consummate purpose of the entire 
economy of grace. From the beginning of time until time 
shall be no more, the object has been, and will be, to con- 
form man to the Image of His Son. 

By fair reasoning and logical conclusion, drawn from 
the consistency of the power of law, we have proven that 
the whole plan of salvation is immovably fixed upon the 
principle of conformity to something, and nonconformity 
to something else. Any one who resists at this point will 
be found kicking against the goads. The application of 
the law of conformity to the Image, is not to the material 
body, but to the mind. When once the mind of man is 
brought into unison with the Mind of God and His Type, 
and the arrest is permanent, the growth will be onward 
until the man arrives "unto the measure of the stature of 
the fullness of Christ;" and this is salvation through a 
process of evolution or growth. Hear Paul again upon 
this point: "Let this mind be in you which was also in 
Christ Jesus ;" "By the renewing of your mind ;" "And be 
renewed in the spirit of your mind." Again: "He that 
saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk even 
as He walked."* These Scriptures, and others that could 
be offered, have one general principle in their teaching; 
and that is, there can be no true discipleship unless the serv- 
ant imitates or conforms to his Master. The molding of the 



Rom. vm, 29. 4 1 John li, 6. 



324 "Ammi— My People/' 

mind lies at the basis of all benefits to be derived from the 
Christian religion. 

The testimony of Jesus is : "I came not to do My own 
will, but the will of Him that sent Me." That the mind 
and the service shall be surrendered wholly to this end is 
evidenced in the words of Christ : "Ye can not serve God 
and mammon; ye can not serve two masters." Since all 
that has been, and all that is, and all that will be, is the 
product of mind over matter, and no act of our own can 
pass without the consent of the mind, we are forcibly 
taught the importance of this faculty. It is the medium, 
and the only one, by which God can reach us, or we reach 
one another. It is the only real ' and lasting faculty that 
w^e possess, and when it fails us, all is gone. To turn the 
invisible, immeasurable, eternal power of the mind from 
darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God, is 
conversion; and until such a change is accomplished, there 
is no conversion. 

By giving man a pattern, or type, to show him the 
thing designed and the evidence of the result of such a 
change, is the meaning of Paul's words, "God was mani- 
fested in the flesh." Can it not now be said that the demand 
of the people of God for nonconformity is well founded? 
If that claim is not sustained, neither reason, logic, nor 
the Scriptures can sustain anything. The claim is based 
upon law, natural and spiritual, the only incontrovertible 
grounds on which to base any principle. Men may not ac- 
cept these conclusions, and still contend for more license 
in the exercise of the mind ; but let it be remembered that 
the opposition to growth in the natural or spiritual field 
comes from the lowest part of the environment. The con- 
test among the religious bodies upon this point has been 
so narrowed that, comparatively speaking, it is a thing of 
the past. Those who at one time held it as an article of 
faith have weakened under the pressure of opposition until 
the current of popular opinion has swept the last veetige 



Nonconformity. 325 

away. The result is that with it have gone discipline and 
order, as ^vell as the power to purify the membership; and 
the further result is the sign of spiritual death stamped 
upon every form of service where nonconformity is disre- 
garded. However strong we may raise our protest against 
these conclusions, the fact still remains because of the re- 
sult of natural law. 

"If any man will be My disciple, let him take up his 
cross and follow Me." The life of Jesus was a life of self- 
denial ; in the fullest sense He has a right to demand the 
same life in His followers. He taught the w^orld tlie lesson 
of self-denial in denying Himself of that which was right- 
fully His own. In regard to national affairs His answer 
was, "My kingdom is not of this world." Here those who 
would follow Him are taught the denial of the right to take 
up arms in the defense of worldly kingdoms. "When He 
was reviled. He reviled not again; when He was persecuted. 
He threatened not." "He was led as a lamb to the slaugh- 
ter, and as a sheep before her shearer is dumb, so He 
opened not His mouth." Does the world need a clearer 
lesson of self-denial? It does not. But it does need a 
mind that will enable it to conform to the lesson. "If a 
man sue thee at law, and take away thy cloak, give him 
thy coat also." If this is the type of the ideal life that 
was prompted by the mind of God, can an individual be a 
partaker of His nature and not reflect the image of the 
type in his life? 

Again, can it be said that the life of Jesus was of any 
real worth to the race of mankind, unless they are willing 
to mold their lives in conformity to the life that Jesus 
lived? If the religious world of the present day is to 
answer these questions, we shall wait long for an answer. 
If the man of God is to answer them, his answer is at hand : 
"Dare any of you having a matter against another, go to 
law before the unjust, and not before the saints?" And 
this man has told us that he followed Christ. While these 



326 '^Ammi— My People/' 

self-denying principles seem to antagonize us upon every 
hand, and our rebellious minds are startled at the depth of 
humility into which they are sure to bring us, let us not 
forget that He who lived up to them came out of life's bat- 
tles a conqueror. And why should He not? If the life that 
God gave to men was the reflection of His mind, then all 
who live the same life will reflect the Mind of God. Hence 
God must be a defender of that life; and God knows no 
defeat. 

There can be no responsibility remaining upon the one 
that conforms to the Image of the Son of God. However 
impossible the work or thing may seem to us, or to those 
around us, if we yield submission to the Mind of Christ, 
who had the Mind of God, we shall never fail. This is the 
law of conforming to type. And the opposite is to conform 
to the world, to which the teachings of the Word of God 
are opposed. 

To be conformed to Christ is to partake of the things 
of Christ; to conform to the world is to partake of the 
things of the world. But we are in the world, and our mis- 
sion is here, and we can not take our departure until that 
mission is done. True this is, and we should be glad in- 
deed that we are in this world for the good that we can 
do for Him who gave His life to save the world. To save 
the world ! Yes ; there w^as something in the world worth 
saving then ; there are some things in the world worth sav- 
ing still. Jesus came into the world, not only to save the 
world from sin, but to save us from sinning. As soon as 
we leave off conforming to Him, we begin again to con- 
form to the world; and that is sin; and we are found in 
the condition of the sow, which, after having been washed, 
returned to her wallowing in the mire. 

The people of God who would conform to the Image of 
God^s Son must be nonconformed to the sinful things that 
are in the world. There is no escape from this ; it is by the 
appointment of God Himself. The world knows its own. 



Nonconformity. 827 

and all that are of the world the world knows ; but the Type 
of manhood that God gave to the world was so noncon- 
formed to the world that, though being in the world, the 
world knew Him not. 

In the matter of going to war or law or self-defense, 
the people of God (tan not conform thereto, but must be self- 
denying and not self -defending. If an answer is here re- 
quired, the index finger points to the type; and if those 
who are not satisfied, still insist on going to law, they must 
carry their case to the court of God. Why should it be 
thought incredible that this demand be made? There 
could be no room for Christ to raise up a standard in the 
world for man to conform to, if it were not made. Char- 
acter is based upon the attributes possessed by the subject. 
If the attributes that belong to the character of Jesus will 
not separate His people from the people of the world, and 
the ungodly and sinful doings of the world. His life and 
words have no meaning. The only consistent plan, then, 
is either to separate yourself from the world, or make no 
profession of doing so. Until there is a consistent mani- 
festation of this distinction, can it be said that the re- 
ligion of Jesus Christ is of any worth to man? 

Because of the prostration of these principles; because 
of the claims that are made where these principles have 
been ignored ; because of the mask that is thrown over sin- 
ful indulgences ; because, after having indulged in war, in 
law, in politics, in horse-racing, in intemperance, in pro- 
fanity, in divorce, in card-playing; in short, after having 
demolished the last vestige of self-denial, — ^the religious 
world, as a worlds calmly throws the mantle of forbear- 
ance over such a combination of flesh services, and then, 
with assumed modesty, asks why the people of God should 
not adopt them, and call it Christian. In considering all 
this, we are constrained to enter into the defense of the 
principles of nonconformity. 

In the face of our surroundings., it would seem all but 



328 "Ammi— My People/' 

useless^ if not absurd, to make any further demands. But 
there are further demands; not that there are any addi- 
tional causes, but qualifications of a more extended kind. 
The law of conforniity to type (the meaning of which is, 
nonconformity to anything else but that type) so permeates 
the organism that it is controlled by it. Starting at the 
base of development, .adhering to the principle of expan- 
sion through the mysterious power called growth, these 
lines are closely followed until the goal is reached, until 
we arrive at the measure of the stature of the tidiness of 
Christ. To transform the natural, or animal, mind of man 
into the mind of Christ, the Type, is the work which the 
Scriptures call conversion. When Paul was laying the 
foundation for this conversion, and the evidence of it, he 
expressed it thus: "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the 
mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacri- 
fice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reason- 
able service. And be not conformed to this world, but be 
ye transformed by the renewing of your minds, that ye may 
prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will 
of God.'' There are five leading thoughts in this declara- 
tion of the apostle. 

1. The manner of presenting the body before God. 

2. That body shall be a living sacrifice, not dead. 

3. The reasonableness of that service. 

4. There is something to be proven while in that service. 

5. What that something is. 

In the first thought, the attention is called to the nat- 
ural bod}^, and that there is a possibility of presenting that 
body holy before God. The possibility is shown in the evi- 
dence of a converted mind ; which brings us to the seat of 
action wherein the body is the index of the condition of the 
mind. If by the power of the mind the body is made a 
servant of righteousness, then by virtue of such service the 
body becomes holy. As the mind can not serve God with- 
out being conformed to the mind of Christ, so the body 



Nonconformity. 329 

can not be hoh^ unless it is nonconformed to the world. 
But the body can do nothing of itself, only by the consent 
of the mind ; thus whatever presentation the body may dis- 
play can not be charged to the bod^^, but as being a product 
of the mind. If^ then, the mind is nonconformed to the 
world, the body, by reason of having no power to act of 
itself, must also be nonconformed to the world. A body 
adorned with wasteful extravagance in all that the unholy 
lusts of the flesh can produce, for pride in appearance and 
haughty exaltedness to the confusion of those who are in 
poverty's grasp, can, with no degree of propriety, be pre- 
sented before God as holy. Law in its weakest application 
forbids it ; and to reason it is a stranger. And the proof of 
such things is, that both mind and body are worldlings, 
pure and simple. 

The second thought, in the words of the apostle, is ^'sac- 
rifice.'' This is the only reference in the Scriptures to a 
"living sacrifice;" all others were dead. But is not death 
closely related to this sacrifice also? Is there not a condi- 
tion in which the body, and also the mind, are said to be 
dead? There is, and in that relation is the force of the 
apostle's words: "For ye are dead, and your life is hid 
with Christ in God." Verily, then, the body is dead; but 
in that sense it is hid, — hid with Christ. And where is it 
hid? In God. The further sense in which the mind and 
body are dead, is that they are dead to sin and to sinning, 
but alive unto God, in the sense of bearing the Image of 
His Son. Shall the body, then, be conformed to the world 
in order to show that it is dead to the world? Shall it 
bear the image of the world in order to prove that the mind 
is conformed to the type. The reverse of these propositions 
is incontrovertibly true ; and we are irresistibly brought to 
the conclusion that there can be no "reasonable service" 
unless that service is built upon reason. 

And this brings us to the third thought in the text, — 
"reasonable service." The things that are hid belong to 



330 "Ammi— My People/' 

God. Should we attempt to reason -upon those things, we 
would be casting drift into the stream, that would, by and 
by, hinder our own passage. The things that are revealed, 
alone belong to us. "For the hidden things belong unto 
the Lord; but the things that are revealed belong unto us 
and to our children forever to do them.'' If we are to 
serve God, the only knowledge we can have of the manner 
of that service is to be gathered ftom His revelation. The 
fullness of that revelation is in the life of Christ, the Type. 
In that life Jesus glorified God in His body and in His 
Spirit, which were God's. When the servant of Christ shall 
humble himself in body and in spirit as did his Master, he 
will be found a reasonable servant, and can offer a reason- 
able service. And further, that servant will consider it a 
very reasonable demand for him to offer such service. 

The next thought is, we shall prove something in that 
service. To be consistent, the apostle has a right to de- 
mand proof at this point : "Prove all things, and hold fast 
to that which is good.'' We are not only called upon to 
prove "who are the people of God," but have the license to 
prove why others are not. Many people — and even those 
who seem to be religiously inclined — do not approve of this 
application of the apostle's words ; in this they are not rea- 
sonable. The first that we should do is to prove ourselves. 
By Divine example we are given this caution : "Prove your 
own selves.'' Many times did God the Father prove Him- 
self unto the house of Israel, and many more times did 
that people fail to give their deliverer proof of their fidel- 
ity to Him in return. In the closing history of that people, 
in the days of Malachi, before the darkness of a gloomy 
night fell upon them; when they had proved themselves 
robbers of God and traitors to His service; still vainly at- 
tempting to accuse their Creator of a false charge against 
them ; clinging still to the form in the absence of the spirit, 
— by multiplying their offerings they sought to atone for 
the crime of breaking the law. Hear, ye nations. Let all 



;N"oxcoxformity. 331 

the breakers of the law of God hear, while Jehovah pro- 
nounces His condemnation upon them : "I will come near 
to 3^ou to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against 
the sorcerers^ and against the adulterers, and against false 
swearers. . . . For I am the Lord, I change not. 
. . . Even from the daj^s of your fathers ye are gone 
away from Mine ordinances and have not kept them.. 
. . . Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me. 
But 3^e say, Wherein have we robbed Thee ? In tithes and 
in oiferings. Ye are cursed with a curse; for ye have 
robbed Me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes 
into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, 
and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I 
will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you 
out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to re- 
ceive it.'^^ Here is the evidence of false worship, and the 
evidence of a broken law. Here is the evidence that God's 
last act for that rebellious people was to prove His mercies 
unto them. Hei"e also is the evidence that God, while prov- 
ing His truth, proved to that nation why they were untrue ; 
why He called them "Lo Ammi" — Not My People.'' 

There is one feature connected with all kinds of religion 
that few, very few individuals discern. And that feature 
is: the life of the servant and the manner of his service 
points with unerring certainty toward the object of his 
service. It was with sacredness and solemnity that Moses 
ascended the mount to enter into the presence of God. But 
dancing indicated the presence of the calf in the camp of 
Israel. Elijah, in the evening of the day, when the length- 
ening shadows foretold the coming of the night, drew nigh 
to God in solemn reverence, building again, with stones 
made sacred by sacrifices of old, the altar of God. Feeling 
the righteousness of his cause, and the power of Him who 
ordained it, calmly and faithfully he approaches the altar, 
and, after all had been done that to him was possible, in 

5 Mai. ill, 5. 



332 "Ammi— My People/' 

words becoming the object of his worship, he exclaims: 
"Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be 
known this day that Thou art God in Israel, and that I am 
Thy servant, and that I have done all these things at Thy 
word/^ 

But we can not turn from the morning service without 
a feeling of regret for those mistaken souls who, through 
their boast of numbers, gained the sympathy of the people, 
and encouraged an over-confident and self-righteous zeal to 
^the extent that they would gladly have crushed the old 
prophet to the ground. Leaping upon the altar (which 
would have been sacred had not their god been dead ) , cut- 
ting themselves with knives, they cried aloud and still 
louder, "0, Baal, hear!^^ Ah! Baal had no ears to hear. 
The god was dead, the service was dead, and the servant 
proved it in his manner of worship. The God of Elijah was 
living; the service had respect for the altar; and, greatest 
of all, that God had respect for the service. 

The fifth and last thought in the apostle's words is, 
What was that something that he would have his brethren 
prove? He wanted them to prove ''What is that good and 
acceptable and perfect will of God.'' A will can only be 
proven in one way ; and that way is, to obey it to the letter. 
A will can only be broken in one way ; and that way is, to 
change the design of the testator. God wills to every indi- 
vidual, share and share alike, an eternal, incorruptible in- 
heritance, reserved in heaven, on the condition that we 
take up under that will; but if we appeal to the court of 
our own conscience, or to the schools of the modern 
prophets, or to the Doctors D. D. and LL. D., who are the 
fathers of such schools, then we set the will of God asirle, 
and, by virtue of a common course of law, will, by our own 
will, will away our inheritance. Xot only does the will of 
God give us an inheritance, but it also gives us the power 
to fill the conditions in the will. The conditions are that 
we become pure in mind and body; and this end can only 



Nonconformity. 333 

be obtained by separating us from impurity as the ore is 
separated from the dross. 

Again, we have arrived at the point where a common 
process of law meets us. When ore is separated from the 
dross, the process is severe, and so severe is it that in the 
end, so far- as quantity is concerned, we are much the losers ; 
but in regard to quality we have gained all. For the reason 
that we can now use what little we may have, while before 
this purifying process took place we had so much we could 
not use any. If God could have used the world as it was 
in the days of Noah, the purifying process would never 
have been instituted. If Heaven could have used Sodom 
as the angels found it, fire could not have consumed it; 
for what God can use, fire has no power over. As evidence, 
behold the Hebrew children in the furnace of fire. If John 
the Baptist could have used the world as it met him, he 
would never have called some "vipers." If Jesus could 
have used the world as he found it, there would have been 
no need of His choosing a "little flock," for He longed to 
gather them all. If the apostle thought that his Lord could 
use the world as he knew it, why did he say, "Come out 
from among them, and be ye separate; and touch not the 
unclean thing?" 

Nonconformity is the only means known to God or 
man that can keep anything pure. However pure the ore 
may be when leaving the furnace, it can only be kept so 
by preventing any foreign substance from conforming to 
it. Its home or natural condition having been associated 
with dross, it only obeys a law of its nature when for a 
second time it gathers impurity ; and this it does by the law 
of adhesion. Being inert, this is the only law by which it 
can again conform to impurity. Man being organic — liv- 
ing — assumes responsibility through his acts. The will of 
God separates man from this impurity, and, when obeyed, 
gives him power to keep pure by the . process of noncon- 



334 "Ammi— My People/' 

f ormity to that which is not pure, and the further power of 
casting off from him all else that is not pure. 

While man occupies a higher position in the scale of ex- 
istence than the ore, the evidence of impurity is seen along 
parallel lines. The ore gives evidence of impurity upon 
the surface. Man may be impure inwardly, but not until 
there is an outward evidence can he prove it. Not until 
there is some fruit j)roduced by conforming to impurity, 
either in word or action, can he be known. "By their 
fruit ye shall know them." If the will of the refiner has 
been in force, the metal is pure throughout; not until 
dross accumulates upon the surface can it be said to be im- 
pure. The nonconforming principle as taught in the Word 
of God, and applied to His people, prevents this accumulat- 
ing process of impurities forming on "the outside by con- 
trolling the mind, the power within. And this answers the 
demand of the apostle when he says, "Be ye transformed 
by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is 
that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." 

By acts and words we express the intent of the mind. 
If the body must be presented holy before God, shall it not 
be through the consent of the mind ? And is not the body 
an index that shows the state of the mind ? When the body 
bows, does it not indicate the bowing of the mind ? If this 
be denied, then the act can be nothing short of mock- 
ery. When the mind is converted to self-denial and sacri- 
fice, can it give evidence of such a condition by adorning 
the body with all the sinful lusts that sin can invent ? How 
well did the king of N'ineveh comprehend the consistency 
of showing the state of his mind by the manner in which 
he adorned his body and the entire city, with the beasts in- 
cluded ! The world has never received a better lesson of 
true conversion than is taught by that heathen king. The 
sackcloth and ashes proved the condition of th-e king's 
mind, — that it had been converted, and by this act salva- 
tion was obtained. 



Nonconformity. 335 

Here is not only nonconf ormit}^ but uniformity in non- 
conformity ; and the evidence is that God accepted it. ISTotli- 
ing can more forcibly contradict the natural course of law 
than for an individual claiming to be converted from the 
impurity of this world and the desires of the carnal mind, 
and then conforming to the world in its fashions. We are 
taught that our body is the habitation of the Spirit, the 
temple of the Holy Ghost, which God has promised to His 
people. Shall they, tlien, adorn that temple with the trap- 
23ings of an idol? Shall they defile God's habitation by 
making the body unholy through sinful pride and intem- 
perate indulgence ? 

When the professors of the Christian religion surrender 
as servants to flesh and the lusts thereof, no saving power 
remains. To claim purity of heart and mind when the 
fruit is impure, is to be blind and not perceive it. When 
God instituted the form of worship in the house of Israel, 
He at the same time ordained the principle of noncon- 
formity among His people; nor was there any part of it 
more precise than that which referred to their garments. 
At the same time God told them that the object was to 
cause them to remember their covenant. This is the power 
that nonconformity has in purifying the membership, and 
given by the authority of heaven. It was that they might 
remember their covenant. The Jewish people were a pecul- 
iar people, differing from all other nations upon the earth ; 
and the law that God gave them made them so. Was not 
the type that God gave to the world alike peculiar? The 
world at that time said, "He is beside himself.^' They dis- 
liked Him because of his peculiarity. Shall he who would 
conform to the Image of that type be different? Has the 
world changed; or do they still think that the people of 
God are beside themselves ? It is perfectly certain that the 
type has not changed, nor can it be thought that the world 
has, in that respect. 

Not only does law teach nonconformity beyond the pos- 



336 "Ammi— My People/' 

sibility of doubt, but with emphasis, the same law teaches 
uniformity in nonconformity. Uniformity in noncon- 
formity is the basis of every scientific principle in the uni- 
verse. So powerful is this principle that there can be no 
science without it. There is but one class of things or be- 
ings that are bold enough to make the effort to break this 
law, and then attempt to throw a mask over the breach. 
The mineral, the vegetable, and the animal kingdom 
strictly obey the law. In the natural world the law is su- 
preme. Should an individual in any of the fields of na- 
ture break the law he would upon that instant be ostra- 
cized by his own companions. Uniformity of mineral, uni- 
formity of vegetable, uniformity of animal, — each in its 
own class, and each class is uniform. Of all the -many gods 
that have been worshiped, and of all the worshipers of 
those gods, none have yet been found, save one class, that 
have been ashamed of the god they pretended to worship. 
The seeming modesty of all creation has left that breach to , 
the falsely called Christian believers. 

If there were none who understood our Lord when He 
uttered the words, '^'He that is ashamed of Me and My 
words, of him will I be ashamed before My father and His 
holy angels," there is no excuse for misunderstanding now. 
The nearer the heathen can approach his god, the more 
comfort he feels in his religion. The more uniformity an 
army of soldiers maintains, the greater their power in bat- 
tle. The strength of any society lies in its uniformity of 
motive ; nor will that society attempt to make a display of 
strength without the ensign of their union. We are sur- 
rounded on every hand by witnesses innumerable willing to 
testify to the power which lies in uniformity in noncon- 
formity. If this power is of such force and value in the 
natural world, does it not argue strongly for analogy in 
the spiritual ? 

If Jesus gathered so many likenesses of the kingdom of 
heaven in the natural field, can any one give a lawful 



ISTONCONFORMITY. 337 

reason Avhy we can not? Or will any individual contend 
that Jesus exhausted the natural field with his parables? 
Blind indeed must be the people of God if they can not see 
the field of the world overflowing with lessons of meaning- 
How significant are the words of our Lord in connection 
with this subject : "I am the good Shepherd, and My sheep 
hear My voice, and they follow Me; but a stranger will 
they not follow/' It was not possible for our Lord to have 
chosen an example that could more fitly represent the prin- 
ciple of uniformity in nonconformity than a flock of sheep ; 
nor an example that more closely illustrates and defends 
the principle. It is not possible to produce a hybrid, or 
cross, from this base. It is an old saying, and in a great 
measure true, that a wolf may appear in sheep's clothing, 
but no one has yet seen a sheep make, the effort to appear 
in wolf's clothing. 

While this principle is as firmly rooted in the teachings 
of the Divine Word as any contained therein, and holds 
within itself one of the most effective means that the peo- 
ple of God possess for maintaining purity in the body, it 
can be, and often is, greatly abused. And for this reason 
some oppose it. Because a thing is abused in no sense 
argues against the thing itself ; and why this error should 
be so general among all classes, and in regard to almost 
everything that they approve or disapprove, remains a 
standing question. A thing that has no worth can hardly 
be abused; it is only the better things of life that men 
have any ambition or desire to abuse; and the shame is 
that the best things are the most fiercely abused. And, to 
our great shame, the Book of the Eevelation of Jesus Christ 
is the worst abused Book in the world. Not every plant 
that conforms to its type is admired. The type may be low 
in the scale, and undesired; but is it created for naught? 
By no means. Its undesirableness only adds luster to the 
beautiful around it; the Creator made nothing in vain. 
22 



338 ''Ammi— My People/' 

When the type is produced by the individual belonging 
to its class, its mission is fulfilled. 

But is not the type that God gave to the world beauti- 
ful? Was it not said of Him, "He was the brightness of 
His Father^s glory, the express Image of His person? Be- 
held My Servant, in whom My soul delighteth. My Beloved, 
in whom I am well pleased !" If man is the glory of God, 
then the Perfect Man is God's supreme glory and this is 
the type that we, as men and women, are asked to conform 
to. The beauty of Jesus was in His humility, in His per- 
fectness, in His service, in His glory, in His submission. 
Well was it said, "Out of the perfection of beauty God has 
shined.'' And this is the standard that God's people shall 
bear through this world where sin has made so many things 
so homely. Humility can only be clothed with modesty, 
perfection with neatness, and glory with cleanliness. These 
principles must constitute the adorning of the people of 
God; nothing else will fill that demand. Gold and silver, 
plaited hair, and costly raiment or apparel, the apostle de- 
clares will not be accepted. Filthy, indifferent, and unbe- 
coming adorning is, on the other hand, equally unaccepta- 
ble. "Let all things be done decently and in order." And 
cleanliness belongs to godliness. 

We have a type of humility, with the servant adorned 
in modesty. We have a type of perfection, with the servant 
adorned in neatness. We have a type of beauty, with the 
servant adorned in cleanliness. Here is consistency, here is 
order, and here is law; and this should be the order of 
God's house and people. At this point fiesh rebels; it 
should rebel. If not, there would be no victory, nothing 
to be crucified, and no place for the cross, and the further 
result would be that Jesus is without a mission. 

But let the flesh and the world and Satan rebel. Flesh 
is but as grass; the world has been overcome; and Satan 
can be bound. And now let the people of God be steadfast 
in holding these non-resisting, nonconforming, and non- 



Nonconformity. 339- 

compromising principles of God's Word; for in them, and 
them only, is the power to overcome the world. It has been 
the saving power of the Church in all the conflicts through 
which she has passed; and will be her guardian angel in 
all time to come. And when the Mother of Harlots, the 
abomination of the earth, the opposing spirit to God and 
His people, shall have consumed within herself the Protes- 
tant world, that has mocked at the teaching of truth, she 
but gathers again her own offspring; all coming with the 
mark of the beast in their hands or foreheads, to meet con- 
demnation at the appearing of Christ. Then shall this 
sacred distinction, which the people of God have honored 
and preserved, prove to them and the world its unknown 
worth. 



mSSIONARY WOEK— ITS OBJECT AND DESIGN. 

The abuse of a principle does not invalidate that prin- 
ciple; nor does the improper manner of performing a work 
prove that the work should not be done. Over-anxiety is 
sure to lead to extremes; indolence buries its only talent; 
and both result in failure. Hard indeed has it been to 
regulate man in his undertakings, so that, in using the 
given means, he would not abuse them, that in the end he 
might be justified. That God is the Author of missionary 
work is evidenced in the fact of sending His Son into the 
world "to seek and to save that which was lost." That this 
was the work by which man might be again received into 
fellowship with God is certified in the words of the apostle : 
"God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.''^ 
The method of reconciliation is contained in what the Son 
of God has called "My Gospel," which He, Himself, 
preached unto the nation to whom He was sent, at the close 
of that mission delivering unto His apostles the power to 
preach the same, in the language commonly called the com- 
mission, as follows : "Go ye into all the world, and preach 
My Gospel to every creature."^ 

Nothing could be more reasonable than that the means 
for saving all men should reach them ; nor could there have 
been a more appropriate way than to use man as an instru- 
ment to accomplish that salvation. The testimony of 
Christ before Pilate was: "To this end was I born, and 
for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear 
witness unto the truth."^ From the closing testimony of 
the prophet Malachi until the "Magi saw His star in the 
east," spiritual darkness enveloped the earth. It was the 



1 2 Oor. V, 19. 2 Mark xvi, 15. 3 John xvlil, 37. 

340 



Missionary Work. ^ 341 

famine of which the prophet Amos had spoken, — not a 
famine of bread and water, but of hearing the Word of the 
Lord. 

Through a long and dark night of more than four hun- 
dred years the world was groping for light, and could not 
find it. The artist may picture the rising sun in glowing 
colors; he may paint the background in the darkest hue 
in order to add force and power to the splendor of light; 
yet the world still moves on in darkness. A field sur- 
rounded by a thousand pictures of the rising sun would 
not cause one blade of grass to grow. And so mythology, 
with its multiplicity of gods, could but allure the nations 
into false paths, and make the darkness deeper. As the 
natural darkness "moved upon the face of the waters" 
until God said "Let there be light," so likewise darkness 
covered the spiritual horizon until that came, of which it 
was said: "Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the 
glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. . . . And the 
Gentiles shall come to thy light and kings to the brightness 
of thy rising."* While the evening that preceded that 
dark, dark night, the night of our race, closed with the 
threat of a curse upon the earth, there was yet to be seen 
in the midst of that darkness the star of prophecy, grow- 
ing in fullness as the coming dawn of the day of the Sun 
of Eighteousness broke in its splendor over the manger in 
Bethlehem, and since then was heard from the mouth of 
the prophet, "The people which sat in darkness saw great 
light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of 
death light is sprung up."^ From the time that Jesus be- 
gan to preach, and say, "Eepent, for the kingdom of heaven 
is at hand," that light has been spreading. As the natural 
day follows the natural night, and in turn the night the 
day, so spiritual darkness has given way to spiritual light, 
and spiritual light in turn has been supplanted by spiritual 
darkness. 



4Isa. Ix, 1. sMatt. iv, 16. 



342 "Ammi— My People/' 

God has provided a plan for perfecting the growth of 
the lily and the oak, but He has not kept them from decay. 
He also brought man forth bearing His own Image, and 
crowned him with beauty and power, though He made no 
provision for his always remaining so after he had sinned. 
He who was sent to hail the coming of the morning of 
hcaven^s dawn said, "I am not that Light, but am sent to 
bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which 
lighteth every man that cometh into the world." This 
Light, the Sun of Eighteousness, is God's supreme gift to 
the world, and the manner of diffusing it displays His in- 
finite wisdom. The Gospel of salvation is a glorious light, 
as well as the light of a glorious Gospel ; it is the last and 
highest call the race of man will ever receive. It is the 
highest, because it calls man to conform to the Image of 
his Maker ; it is the last because it is the call of "Omega.'^ 
That those to whom this call was vouchsafed fulfilled their 
mission is evidenced by the voice of him who was en- 
gaged in the work: "But I say. Have they not heard? 
Yes, verily; their sound went into all the earth, and their- 
words unto the ends of the world."^ In what manner the 
Jewish nation heard the Gospel is mentioned in the second 
chapter of the Acts of the Apostles : "And there were 
dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every na- 
tion under heaven."^ Again, Paul testifies that the Gos- 
pel was preached to every creature: "If ye continue in the 
faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from 
the hope of the Gospel, which ye have heard, and which 
was preached unto every creature which is under heaven; 
v/hereof I, Paul, am made a minister.''^ Nothing could be 
more consistent than that this glorious Gospel should have 
universal dissemination, and that the Holy Spirit should 
aid man in the work. 

In all of Heaven's ways there is reasonableness, just- 
ness, and completeness; and the law of God's house is in 

« Rom. X, 18. 7 Acts 11, 5, « Col. 1, 23. " 



Missionary Work. 343 

harmony with the law of creatiora; and there is not a prin- 
ciple in the spiritual, but has its counterpart in the nat- 
ural. As the natural sun rises in the east and sets in the 
west, so the Sun of Eight eousness rose in the east, and His 
journey has been westward, bearing civilization and free- 
dom in His pathway. The east gate of the temple that 
Ezekiel saw was shut, and was not to be opened until the 
Prince should return. When the Spirit of the God of 
Israel entered therein the gate was to be closed until the 
mission of the Prince of Peace was complete; which, by 
the law of the universe, must of necessity bring Him again 
to the east gate. The decree of the Son of God is : "And 
this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the 
world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the 
end come.^^^ Since it has pleased the God of heaven "by 
the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe,"^^ 
He has ordained that all should have a chance to hear in 
order that they might believe; and the history of the 
Church from the beginning proves her to have been awake 
to this call. Nor is her mission yet done. Through fire 
and flood, persecution and death ; through famine and im- 
prisonment, distress and poverty; hated, hunted, and de- 
spised; mocked, maimed, and murdered; scoffed, scorned, 
and secluded; driven from one city, fleeing to another; 
wandering about in caves and dens ; destitute, afflicted, tor- 
mented, — while the world has not been worthy of God's 
servants, it is only their presence in the world that brings 
the blessings now enjoyed. The blood of the mart3TS, from 
Stephen down to the killing of God's two witnesses, spoken 
of by the Eevelator, has been the seed from which the 
Church has grown. And her spiritual famine has been 
only when the hand of persecution was stayed. When Zion 
tj'availed, then she brought forth children. To be at ease 
in Zion is not to increase her borders; nor is it the best 
for those within. It was when the members of the infant 



9 Matt, xxlv, 14. 10 1 Cor. i, 21. 



344 "Ammi— My People." 

Church brought their possessions and cast them at the feet 
of the apostles, that they might have all things in common, 
and none should want, that Saul made havoc of the Church. 
And so it has been throughout her journey; and if prophecy 
is to be fulfilled as it has been in the past, persecution will 
be her destiny until her race is run. 

Our Lord sounded a warning in the outset while spread- 
ing His Gospel : "Think not that I am come to send peace 
on the earth: I come not to send peace, but a sword.^' 
Again, "Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on the 
.earth ? I tell you nay ; but rather division." "I am come 
to send fire on the earth ; and what will I, if it be already 
kindled?" That these Scriptures have a definite and qual- 
ified meaning, as has been the manner of all His words, — 
for He spake as never man spake, — must be accepted ; and 
not until we arrive at the proper solution will we be able 
to apply them in their force. 

First, there can be no peace unless it be built upon 
truth and righteousness ; and the nations of the earth have 
verified this in all dispensations. Eeligious wars have been 
the most cruel the world has ever known, and the final con- 
flict in which the devil will muster the inhabitants of the 
earth against the kingdom of Christ will be the climax. 
The Gospel of the kingdom, or the Word of God, is a 
sword, a two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing 
asunder of soul and spirit; and this is the sword that has 
spread disquiet through the earth by the command of Him 
that brought it. !N"or will it be sheathed until victory for 
Truth shall be established, peace flow as a river and right- 
eousness as the waves of the sea, and the nations learn war 
no more. 

Second, in relation to the fire that Christ said He "came 
to send," — ^that can not be other than the power of God 
and His righteousness manifested through His Word and 
the presence of the Spirit, which has gone forth at the 
bidding of Him unto whom has been given all power in 



Missionary Work. 345 

heaven and in earth. For saith the apostle, "Onr God is a 
consuming- fire.'^^^ The prophet, in speaking of the coming 
of the Lord and His day, very forcibly describes the man- 
ner of His mission : "But who shall abide the day of His 
coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth? for He 
is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap."^^ As the lit- 
eral fire does not consume the ore, but purifies it, so the 
Word of God and the power of His Spirit consumes ungod- 
liness and impurity in the heart and conscience of men ; and 
who can measure the intensity of the struggle when the be- 
ing and source of the principle within is on fire, — condemn- 
ing self, exposing and devouring self, a fire, that consumes 
all of self, and kindled by the words, "He that is without 
sin, let him cast the first stone."^^ When our Lord was 
preparing His disciples for the mission of spreading His 
Gospel of the kingdom, His words were : "When I sent you 
without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked you anything? 
And they said, Nothing. Then said He unto them. But 
now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his 
scrip : and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, 
and buy one. . . . And they said. Lord, behold here 
are two swords. And He said unto them. It is enough."^* 
Since then there have been two swords in the world, — 
the natural, or literal, sword; and the sword of the Spirit; 
the one against the other. And this is why Christ said, 
^'■I came not to send peace, but a sword." There is also, in 
the same sense, two fires in the world; the one consumes 
the bush, the other illuminates it; the one chars and dark- 
ens the life of man, while the other brightens and adorns it. 
In the mission of spreading the Gospel, it is not enough 
for the messenger to have the message; it is required of 
him to know its meaning. Should he fail in this, his mis- 
sion is fruitless, and his labor m vain. Ignorance is the 
mother of folly, and a misguided zeal is the most insatiable ; 
and so Heaven has provided that, "He whom God sends 



" Heb. xii, 29. 12 Mai. ill, 2. is John vm, 7. i* Luke xxii, 35. 



346 ^'Ammi— My People/' 

speaketh God's Word;'' and in our anxiety to accomplish 
much, and forgetting that God has bnt one way by which 
He reaches the end in view, we may fall into the error of 
running, as did some of old of whom the prophet said, "I 
have not sent these prophets, yet they ran : I have not 
spoken to them, yet they prophesied/'^^ Upon this point 
man has ever been found too impatient for God's way. Time 
and again has man broken faith with Heaven's slowness; 
nor have the nations yet learned to bide God's time, bnt 
by nndne haste have overreached their limit, and conse- 
quently lost their power to accomplish the thing which 
God had designed. It is said, "The mills of the gods grind 
slow;" and, for this reason, "Fools rush in where angels 
fear to tread." 

In carefully studying the Scriptures and the dealings 
of God with His people and the world at large; comparing 
the past prophecies with those of the present and future; 
noting the manner of their fulfillment, and the utter 
ignorance of the 23tople as to the time of fulfillment, and 
as to the meaning of the prophecies regarding those with 
whom they were to be fulfilled, — we are irretrievably drawn 
to the conclusion that there must be something woefully 
wrong with the modern missionary movement. Mission- 
ary work is that alone which has for its object the spread- 
ing of "a religion" in foreign countries. There is nothing 
sacred about the term "missionary," only so far as the work 
is in accord with sacred things, and done in a sacred 
manner. 

The term "Evangelist" has a closer connection with 
sacred things than the word "missionary." Any form of 
religion may have its missionar}^, but an evangelist is one 
whose mission is to preach the Gospel of Christ. Accept- 
ing the term "missionary" in the sense that common usage 
has adopted as to the meaning of the word, there is yet 
room for investigation before the present methods can be 



' Jer. xxiii, 21. 



Missionary Work. 347 

harmonized with the words of the Gospel it claims to 
preach. We are not concerned in anything that does not 
j)ertain to the Gospel of the kingdom. It is here claimed 
that the "mode" or "manner" has ever been as sacred with 
God as the act; and unless the ways of God are still fol- 
lowed there can be no assurance of a blessing. It does ap- 
pear that it has pleased the Mind of God to spread His 
Gospel and His people through all dispensations by the 
way of persecution. And further, it is only in this way 
that any success has crowned the efforts of His Church. 
Either God persecuted the nations in order to make room 
for His people, or the nations persecuted His people in 
order to make room for themselves. Persecution brought 
little Joseph and his people down to Egypt, and persecu- 
tion brought them out again. Through persecution they 
possessed the land of Canaan, and by the same means lost 
it. Persecution carried them to Babylon, and God, through 
persecution, destroyed the nation which wrongfully abused 
them. Persecution has followed the house of Israel since 
the time they cried, "Let His blood be on us and our 
children," and will continue to follow them until the time 
of the Gentiles be fulfilled, — the time when it will please 
God again to gather them in harmony with the word of 
His prophets, and they shall be called "Blessed." 

Persecution drove Joseph, with the Child and His 
mother, to Egypt. It slew the innocent babes in accom- 
plishing the words of the prophet, and blindly answering 
to the purpose of God. Persecution followed in the foot- 
steps of the Gospel from the banks of Jordan to the foot 
of the cross, and from the Day of Pentecost to the Isle of 
Patmos. It followed God's servants from Jerusalem to 
Antioch ; from there to Athens ; from Athens to Eome, and 
thenceforward until the Mayflower landed at Plymouth 
on the shores of New England. Nor is there any doubt 
that this present country is the final resting place of the 



348 "Ammi— My People/' 

symbolical "Woman" spoken of in the twelfth chapter of 
the Apocalypse. ' 

There are two forms of persecution against the Church 
of Christ. The first is described in the words of the apos- 
tle : "Your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh 
about seeking whom he may devour."^^ Under this form 
tlie people of God were persecuted until they found refuge 
in a country where the law of the land stood in their de- 
fense, and granted them religious liberty; and to this per- 
sonality the Apostle Paul refers when, speaking to the 
brethren at Thessalonica, he uses the following words: 
"'Only he who now letteth, will let, until he be taken out 
01 the way."^^ Until this shall be accomplished God's serv- 
ants will have the blessings that flow from liberty in spread- 
ing the glorious news of salvation. The second form of 
persecution to which the people of God are subject is ex- 
pressed in the Epistle to the Church at Corinth. "For 
such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming 
themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; 
for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 
Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be 
transformed as ministers of righteousness."^^ One of the 
definitions given to the word "persecution" is, "to grieve." 
In a spiritual sense, this would be, "to grieve the Holy 
Spirit," and all those who are led by it. While this form 
is free from the devouring nature of the lion in destroying 
the natural body, and driving the people of God from the 
land, it is far more deadening to the soul, and with the 
charming powers of the serpent it seeks to devour the 
Church by deception. 

The fact that the adversary assumes this appearance 
is proof that the race of the Church is almost run ; and as 
the sun that gives light to the body sets in the west, and 
marks the close of the natural day, so the Sun of Kight- 
eousness, that was to give li^ht to the soul, will in like 



16 1 Peter v, 8. i7 2 Thes. ii, 7. is 2 Cor. xi, 13. 



Missionary Work. 349 

manner mark the close of the spiritual day. Throughout 
the Scriptures we never lose sight of the warning, "Take 
heed that no man deceive you;" and the Spirit, in closing 
the N^ew Testament canon, emphasizes the increasing dan- 
ger of that power as the end draws near. Hear His words : 
"And He doeth great wonders, so that He maketh fire 
come down from heaven in the sight of men ; and deceiveth 
them that dwell on the earth." Our Lord, in His teaching 
among men, placed a great degree of stress upon the danger 
of His followers being deceived, and as the end drew nigh, 
that danger would increase. We can not but conclude that 
the time of the end is not far off: "For there shall arise 
false Christs and false prophets, and shall shew signs and 
wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they would 
deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before." 

Following the course of the Church from the time that 
her light arose in the east, spreading the roseate dawn of 
the day of the Lord; filling the eartji with the glory of 
truth, as she was borne upon the wings of time toward the 
setting sun, the evidence is overwhelming that what re- 
mains yet to be done by way of preaching the Gospel is 
evangelistic, rather than missionary. If there be further 
missionary work to be done by man, persecution of the 
people of God must be the means of accomplishing it. 
That is God's way, and by careful consideration it will be 
found to be the only way in which the Spirit can control 
the work. (We are speaking of missionary work in the 
sense in which that word is defined: "One sent to propa- 
gate a religion in a foreign country." While this is a re- 
stricted meaning of the word, it is, nevertheless, the com- 
mon acceptation of the term.) 

One error is sure to lead to another, and in no field is 
this more productive than in religious things. The reason 
is, when error obtains we are acting in the absence of the 
Spirit ; and there remains nothing but flesh to rely upon 
for guidance, which has never failed to lead the nations 
into forbidden paths. 



350 "Ammi— My People." 

God chose persecution for spreading His Word, be- 
cause nothing but persecution will furnish the material 
suited for the work. Money will send any kind of an in- 
strument but the right kind. In fostering His cause God 
has never made choice of a man that money will prompt 
to action. There is not an instance in the history of God's 
dealing with the nations that will show that He ever made 
so much as mention of such a thing in connection with the 
service He demanded. He did promise that the Spirit 
should go with His messengers ; and no man has ever been 
successful in the attempt to buy that. Honor and reputa- 
tion are no better for producing material for the cause of 
God than money. The builders of the tower of Babel built 
for a name, and received it; but the name was "Con- 
fusion.'^ It is manifest, in scanning the deficiency of the 
present missionary spirit, that the entire structure is more 
or less blemished with the fleshly desire for a name. 

Persecution is the mill that grinds out the true servant 
for God's cause. It robs him of everything but the cause 
for which he is battling, and places him in his Master's 
stead, who declared at the outset of His work : "The Spirit 
of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to 
preach the Gospel to the poor. . . . And they won- 
dered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His 
mouth." His command to His disciples was, "When they 
persecute you in one city, flee to another." It was said to 
the man of Tarsus, "Saul, why persecutest thou Me?" 
Job's cry to those who had come to comfort him was, "Why 
do you persecute me?" The final admonition of Paul to 
Timothy is, "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall 
suffer persecution." The advocates of the modern system 
of missionary work have become so worldly that there re- 
mains no cause for persecution, and the spirit that should 
characterize a true missionary is absent. 

The present system of missionary work may, in some 
degree, civilize the world ; but it never will Christianize it. 



Missionary Work. 351 

For this cause the people of God are not in accord with 
it. That there should be a greater effort to enlighten and 
spread the Gospel through our owti land is readily ad- 
mitted : ^remembering still that the Spirit always bides the 
time. Further, it is claimed that when the movement is 
closely examined, it will be found to rest upon three prin- 
ciples that are in conflict with the law of God. First, it 
is an established fact, in nature and in grace, that who- 
ever rejects light must abide in darkness. That the entire 
Eastern world received the light of the Gospel at the mouth 
of the servants of God in its fullness and power, it would 
be folly to deny ; and the reason why the light is not there 
at this time is because those to whom it was given despised 
it, and drove the light from them. In the presence of these 
facts it is maintained that to undertake to establish the 
Gospel in the East at this time is contrary to law and the 
precedent set by Heaven in dealing with mankind. Tt is a 
significant fact that, in the forty years' travel which the 
house of Israel spent in the wilderness, God never led them 
over the same path the second time. All sacred historians 
agree upon this point, so far as our present knowledge ex- 
tends. And the apostle declares that those events were a 
pattern of the heavenly. Can it be thought that, when 
Christ sent His disciples out to preach His Gospel, telling 
them, "Whosoever shall not receive 3'ou, nor hear your 
words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off 
the dust of your feet for a testimony against them," that 
He intended they should ever return to that city or house 
again? Verity not! Xo logician that ever lived, or ever 
will live, can get such a construction out of our Lord's 
words. 

God has said, "Once have I spoken, the word hath gone 
out *of My mouth." He hath spoken many times unto 
them who were willing to hear. He will speak again unto 
them who were not willing to hear, but not by the mouth of 
man or our modern missionary. When the house of Israel 



352 "Ammi— My People/' 

spurned the light of Christ and His Gospel, and counted 
themselves unworthy of eternal life, then it was that Paul 
said, "Lo, I turn unto the Gentiles/' and from that time, 
he further says, "Blindness is happened unto Israel until 
the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled." This is God's way 
in grace; but nature has somewhat also to say; and upon 
these things she has a perfect right to be heard, because of 
the analogy of law. Nature says that which refuses the 
light must abide in darkness; nor is this her full sentence. 
She further demands that, since eyes are of no account to 
those who live in darkness, they must be deprived of them ; 
and at once sets about to make her demands good. And 
this answers why those things which live in perpetual 
darkness have no eyes. And, too, grace has said, "Eyes 
have they, but they see not." The war undertaken in the 
eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, in which the 
task was to recover the Holy City from the hands of the 
infidels, known as "The Crusade or War of the Cross," 
stands as a monument of folly to all nations, showing the 
ignorance of that people and the utter failure that must 
inevitably follow all undertakings that oppose God. In 
the "Crusade" kings gave their crowns, and their subjects 
their lives. Father and son, mother and daughter, all 
united in giving what they had, and consecrated it with 
their life's blood. Millions of lives, and many more mil- 
lions of dollars, were sacrificed, until the rivers were col- 
ored with blood and the nation was famished ; and all was 
for naught. Their zeal had eaten them up in a false cause. 
And why was this ? Ah ! they had never read, or else had 
forgotten, the words of our Lord which he uttered against 
that city and people. Let the nations hear it now; and 
let them hear it with no uncertain sound. "0 Jerusalem, 
Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them 
which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered 
thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens 
under her wing, but ye would not. Behold your house is 



Missionary Work. 353 

left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not 
see Me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that 
Cometh in the name of the Lord."^^ "Jerusalem shall be 
trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gen- 
tiles be fulfiUed."'^*^ This is by the decree of the Son of 
God, and will stand unmovable until the time comes when, 
God hath declared, He will again gather that people. 

The question has been asked time and again, "Are 
those who now inhabit that land responsible for the present 
darkness?" In response the question arises that, since 
blindness was a curse that happened unto Israel in the 
days of their fathers, why are the children of to-day held 
under it also ? "According as it is written, God hath given 
them the spirit of slumber, eyes that the}^ should not see, 
and ears that they should not hear, unto this day. . . . 
Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling 
block, and a recompense unto them."^^ If God has thus 
plainly shown the result that must follow an open rebellion 
against His word and way, need any sane — spiritually sane 
— man ask for further testimon}" upon the point? From 
Paul's own reasoning with the Gentiles in his day can be 
gathered further testimony, if any should be slow to per- 
ceive the light. Hear his words : "For I speak to you Gen- 
tiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I mag- 
nify mine office. . . . For if God spared not the nat- 
ural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee."^^ 
Does not the apostle here warn the Gentiles upon the ques- 
tion at issue? If God cut off the natural branch — ^the 
Jews — for despising the light He gave them in the person 
of His Son, and, as they wanted blindness, permitted them 
to strut in it to their confusion, shall He spare the Wild 
Branch? "Behold therefore the goodness and the severity 
of God : on them which fell, severity : but toward thee. 



19 Matt, xxiii, 37-39. 20 Luke xxl, 24. 21 Eom. xi, 8. 22 Rom. 

si, 13-22. 
23 



354 "Ammi — My People/' 

goodness, if thou continue in His goodness. Otherwise thou 
also shalt he cut off/' 

' Further, the nature of the laws in those countries 
where darkness reigns are not suited to the people of Grod 
for living a life in conformity with His Word; and this is 
proven by the present evidence at hand from every point 
of view. If the progress is so slow in getting the heathen 
to accept a heathenized Gospel, what could be expected 
when offered a Christianized Gospel? We have proven 
from the law of God and from the law of nature, as well 
as from the evidence which the results offer, that the pres- 
ent effort to re-establish the Christian religion in the land 
of its birth is in opposition to the law of God and the order 
of His house. 

The second error consists in advocating the principle 
that the world must be Christianized, or brought under 
the blessings of the Gospel, before Christ will make His 
second appearance, or close of the Gentile time. To the 
careful student of the Scriptures this position is so grossly 
in error that those who hold it are in deed and in truth 
unfit to preach the Gospel in any sense. We can not con- 
ceive how the uninitiated, much less the educated, can have 
fallen into so grave a misunderstanding. But it comes to 
pass as the Scriptures declare, "The wisdom of this world 
is foolishness with God;^^ and it has proved itself so by 
man's dealing foolishly with the things of God. If we had 
nothing but the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar, and the 
interpretation thereof by Daniel the prophet, that alone 
would be enough to instruct the mind of the teachable to 
avoid falling into so grievous an error. Great and mar- 
velous were the events that accompanied the house of Israel 
from their bondage in Egypt until they were established 
in the land of Canaan a free and prosperous people, 
through and by the mighty power of Jehovah. And when 
we remember that the foundation of the entire dispensa- 
tion and covenant by which God displayed to. that people 



Missionary Work. 355 

and the world a pattern of the heavenly things typifying 
in those oracles of service the anticipation of a better and 
more enduring sacrifice, by which the heavens and the 
earth could again be fitted for the indwelling of righteous- 
ness, — had its beginning in the dream of a lad whose name 
was Joseph, we are lost in meditation, and confounded to 
confusion, at the depth and breadth of the power and wis- 
dom of God. If it was fitting for a lad to be the instru- 
ment of la3dng the foundation for the coming of the Child 
of Bethlehem, who lived the life of a servant and died a 
sacrifice, how divinely becoming it was for God to use a 
king as an instrument to foreshadow the coming of that 
One who is Lord of lords, and King of kings ! 

As Joseph interpreted the dream for Pharaoh, through 
which the kingdom of Israel took its rise, so Daniel inter- 
preted the dream for Nebuchadnezzar, in which the king- 
dom of the Gentiles was foreshadowed. God had chosen 
the king and the dream* as a symbol for one of the most 
profound prophecies the Scriptures contain. While many 
of the former prophets predicted momentous events con- 
cerning the house of Israel, it remained for the prophet 
Daniel to reveal the events relating to the Gentile house. 
The colossal metallic man that the king saw in his dream, 
with the interpretation thereof, symbolizes, in impressive 
scenes, the rise, spread, development, and final demolition 
of the Gentile kingdom. With King Nebuchadnezzar be- 
gan Gentile supremacy, and that reign will continue until 
the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled, which will occur at the 
second coming of Christ. The coming of Jesus in the 
manger was the signal of the end of the law, or Jewish na- 
tion; His second coming will be the end of the Gospel 
covenant, and the Gentile reign. Whatever purification 
the sons of men may further undergo will not be by virtue 
of blood. The shadow as well as the substance of the vir- 
tue of the blood will be passed. Nothing could be more 
forcibly and plainly foretold in typical teaching than that 



356 "Ammi — My People/' 

the end of the Gentile reign will be in apostasy from God 
and His Word, and the spirit of Antichrist will devour the 
nations. The manner in which the different compositions 
of the metallic man, which the king saw, were placed, in- 
dicates the various stages of purity as a nation through 
which the Gentiles will pass. It was said to the king, 
"Thou art this head of gold,^' portraying, beyond the pos- 
sibility of a doubt, that the greatest purity of Gentile su- 
premacy was in its beginning. And for proof is offered 
the declaration of the king to all his subjects, — and they 
composed the earth, — "Therefore I make a decree. That 
every people, nation, and language, . . . that dwell 
upon the earth, which speak any thing amiss against the 
God of [heaven] shall be cut to pieces, and their houses shall 
be made a dunghill.^'^^ No Gentile king has ever issued 
such a decree since, nor will it occur under Gentile reign. 
This was the head of gold. 

That the Gentile nation should become powerful, and 
display great wisdom and splendor in its progress, is shown 
by the manner in which the image was presented to the 
king. "Thou, king, sawest, and behold a great image. 
This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood 
before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This 
image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of 
silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his 
feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a 
stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image 
upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them 
to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the sil- 
ver, and the gold broken to pieces together, and became 
like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors ; and the wind 
carried them away, that no place was found for them : and 
the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, 
and filled the whole earth."^* This is the history of the 
Gentile reign from the beginning unto the end; and every 

23 Dan. vi, 26. 24 Dan. il, 31-35. 



MissioxART Work. 357 

man bears in his own body a complete type of the same. 
In every stage;, from the head of gold until the feet of clay 
was reached, degeneration marks its course, both in power 
and in purity. 

That history repeats itself, is nowhere proven more 
forcibly than in the dealings of God with His people, from 
the beginning of creation until the closing of this dispen- 
sation. The Adamic period began with a clean earth and 
clean hands, but ended in destruction by the flood. The 
N"oachian period began with a clean earth and clean hands 
once more, but ended in the fires of Sodom and Gromorrah. 
The Abrahamic period began with freedom and purity of 
faith in God and God's way, but ended in bondage in 
Egypt and idol worship. The Mosaic period began with 
fellowship with God and favor and equity among men, but 
ended in captivity in Babylon, and the displeasure of God 
resting upon people and nation. The Gospel period began 
v/ith "Peace on earth and good, will toward men," and will 
end in apostasy from God, with the "Man of sin, the «^on 
of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all 
that is called God, or that is worshiped ; so that he as God 
sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is 
God. . . . Even him, whose coming is after the work- 
ing of Satan with all power and signs and lying won- 
ders."^^ It was not upon the head of the image which the 
king saw that the blow was received from the stone cut out 
of. the mountain without hands, nor upon the arms or 
thighs ; but the smiting was upon the feet, which were clay, 
the least valued of any part of the image. 

The captivity in Babylon marked the end of Jewish 
authority ; and from that time the region was Gentile, and 
is Gentile still ; and the smiting of the stone can not be but 
in the future. While there have been rising and falling 
of kingdoms and empires; a setting up and pulling down 
of kings and thrones ; wars, famines, and pentilences, — it is. 



25 2 Thess. ii, 4, 9. 



358 "Ammi— My People." 

and has been, a Gentile reign; but the result of the stroke 
which this nation, and all others that are Gentile, will re- 
ceive, will be destruction so far as purity and power are con- 
cerned. In the closing chapter of Daniel's prophecy this 
conclusion is fully sustained. His words are: "And there 
shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was 
a nation even to that same time. . . . But thou, O 
Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the 
time of the end.^'^^ Again, in the prophecy of Ezekiel we 
read: "And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose 
day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, thus saith the 
Lord God ; Eemove the diadem, and take off the crown : this 
shall not be the same : exalt him that is low, and abase him 
that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it; and 
it shall be no more, until He come whose right it is; and 
I will give it Him.''^' In these words the prophet em- 
phatically declares that the prince of Israel shall not be 
exalted until He come (which can be none other than 
Christ) ; and, further, the powers shall be overturned, 
again, and . again, and again, between the removal of the 
prince of Israel and the second coming of Christ. 

Upon this point there is a wide difference of opinion 
(though, in reality, there is not the least room for it) as 
to which coming of Him "whose right it is,'' is here meant. 
Some hold that the prophet refers to the first coming of 
Christ, and that the overturning found its fulfillment in 
the Jewish nation ; and then coupling the eleventh chap- 
ter of Isaiah and the twenty-first chapter of Eevelation, 
they build a hypothesis to sustain the conversion of the 
whole world to the Gospel before Christ shall come again. 
That what the prophet Isaiah and the Eevelator say shall 
come to pass, is readily admitted, but not until the time 
comes wherein the Scriptures have located the prophecies. 
By disconnecting and misapplying the different parts of 
Scripture, many have fallen into a most grievous error. 



26 Dan. xii, 1. 27 Eze. xxi, 25-27. 



Missionary Work. 359 

In the first place, Christ did not come to "receive a 
kingdom/' but to establish one ; and that was not to be lit- 
eral, but spiritual, — a kingdom set up in the hearts of 
those who would receive Him. It was the all-overreaching 
theme of the Jewish people that the Messiah, when He 
came, would re-establish their supremacy and restore their 
kingdom. And all this He will do by and by. Their 
minds would not be relieved of the question, which they 
put to Jesus time and again, "Wilt thou at this time re- 
store again the kingdom of Israel ?'' It lingered with them 
until the morning of the ascension, even to the time of 
Christ's leaving them. Time and again He declared to 
them, "My kingdom is not of this world." They even went 
so far as to attempt to force him to assume the position of 
a king. But no; such was not His mission; that is re- 
served for His second coming, when it will supersede and 
destroy the present ungodly and false religious worship 
wdiich would convert the heathen to the service of another 
idol by calling it Christian. 

All Scripturists of any note agree that the stone re- 
ferred to in the vision which the king saw, and the inter- 
pretation also, represent Christ. Upon this there need be 
no comment. It must then appear evident that "to break 
to pieces is not to gather; nor is smiting receiving; nor 
is destruction salvation; nor is demolition conversion.'^ 
The prophet Daniel, the Apostle Paul, and the Eevelator 
unite in declaring that the end-time of the Gentile reign 
will be one in which the spirit of Antichrist will devour the 
nations and arraign the inhabitants of the earth against 
the God of heaven and the Lord of Hosts. Grant that the 
position of the modem interpreters is true, and what mean- 
ing have the words of our Lord where He says, "When I 
come, shall I find the faith on the earth?" (the article 
"the" here prefixed is according to the Greek rendering: 
and this is in accord with Jude 3, and Eev. xiv, 12). Or 
what meaning in the expression, "If the salt has lost its 



360 • "Ammi— My People/' 

savor, wherewith shall it be salted?" And where shall we 
find place for the great battle of which Ezekiel gives such 
a vivid description? The only conclusion that is tenable 
and consistent is, that the whole religions movement based 
upon such a premise as that held by many, and very many, 
stands in direct opposition to the revealed Word of God, 
and can not accomplish salvation either for missionary or 
heathen. 

Again, in considering the situation from another point 
of view, still further complexities embarrass the mind. 
Should not the people of God endeavor to manifest an in- 
terest in all mankind? Can they be indolent and selfish in 
the cause of God? Is the arm of God shortened that it 
can not reach? To the first question there is but one 
answer; they should manifest such interest at all times 
and in all places, but not to the obstruction of the law 
they claim to obey. In answer to the two last questions the 
reply is, No. What, then, will be the condition of the 
world that is groping in darkness, and cut off from hope 
of light? Is not God just? And, being just, can lie 
judge any one who knows not the law upon which judgment 
is rendered? And, further, if the Gospel must reach the 
living heathen in order to prepare them for judgment, on 
what terms will those who have gone down in ignorance be 
judged ? To all who are interested in the salvation of souls, 
these questions are of vital importance. There is nothing 
disclosed in the character of the present Missionary Giant 
that can give a satisfactory solution of the complexities 
that vex the nations to whom the warning was given in 
the Book of Eevelation. The inspired words are: "Be- 
hold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can 
shut it; . . . and shutteth, and no man openeth.'^ 

It was stated in the introduction of this part of our 
subject that the modem missionary movement was founded 
upon three principles that are in conflict with the law of 
God. The first was, the law of God has by an established 



Missionary Work. 361 < 

precedent declared that "those who despise light shall abide 
in darkness;"^ and this was proven by the testimony of 
God Himself; and the Apostle Paul, in reference to the 
same thought, voices the same conclusion, while nature, in 
accord, produces witnesses on every hand. And herein is 
the present system of missionary work averse to the law 
of God. 

The second principle in conflict with revelation is, that 
this world will, and must be, Christianized before Christ's 
second coming. Abundant testimony has been offered from 
the Scriptures to prove this position to be at variance with 
the design of God, as revealed in His Word. 

The third principle upon which the missionary move- 
ment is founded that is in opposition to the law of God, is 
the belief that all who are not saved in this life, — or, 
rather, fitted for salvation, — will be eternally lost. There 
may be a considerable number among the advocates of mis- 
sionary work who are not inclined to this belief; neverthe- 
less it is but proper to say that less than ten per cent are 
included in that number. 

It is indeed strange that minds capable of grasping the 
most complex principles of nature should fall into con- 
fusion over so plain a principle in grace ; and the more so 
because of the clearness of revelation upon the point. It 
is sincerely believed that if the people in mass would close 
their ears to the pulpit, and betake themselves to the study 
of the Scriptures for themselves, there would be a better 
understanding of the Word of Truth, and a more confi- 
dent faith in its teachings. 

By a plain act of our Lord, and the emphasis placed 
thereon by the spirit of inspiration, such conclusions as we 
liave intimated as favored by the missionary movement 
appear unreasonable, if not absurd. When correctly 
examined, the motives of the institution will be found 
to contain the fact of charging God with unfairness. 
Grant such to be the case, and it is a fact, also, that God 



362 ''Ammi— My People/' 

is unjust; and no logician, be he a scribe or Pharisee, 
priest or publican, Jew or Gentile, will be able successfully 
to contradict it. This in itself should be sufficient to con- 
vince the common people, — and the other class never would 
hear, though one rose from the dead. 

It is singular, though true, that man has ever tried to 
make up in zeal what his religion lacked in virtue. Dr. 
Farrar once said, "It may be that perchance if some erred, 
the light that led astray was light from heaven.^^ We long 
since learned that great men often err ; but we are sure it 
was not light from heaven that influenced their defection. 
The fact is that nations have erred; synods have erred; 
councils and senates have erred; Churches and Church 
fathers have erred; High Church and Low Church have 
erred, — not when they followed the light from heaven, but 
when they failed to get the proper reflection of that light. 
Nor will they cease to err so long as they are willing to 
pay for the service of blind guides, who find more com- 
fort in darkness than in light. 

There is one thing of which all men should assure 
themselves when attempting to interpret the Scriptures; 
and that is: they will never lead you into the wilderness, 
and leave you there with no way of escape. If you do not 
find the way out, 3^ou can rest assured that it is your fault 
and not that of the Book. Thousands fell in the wilder- 
ness beyond literal Jordan ; and tens of thousands are fall- 
ing, and have fallen, this side of spiritual Jordan; but in 
neither case was it the fault of God or His Word. The 
erring ones longed for the flesh-pots of Egypt, and so died 
in the wilderness. The religious world now has the same 
longing, with the form of leprosy added. They "wor- 
shiped the Golden Calf ;" the religious world now worships 
the gold of the calf. 

Before giving a solution of the problem that confronts 
the inquiring mind in relation to those countries where 
spiritual darkness reigns, it is important to be assured that 



Missionary Work. 363 

a like darkness will inevitably wrap this our own now 
blessed land of freedom, sooner or later, in its sable man- 
tle. Nor is it far removed from that darkness at this time. 
The cry from the pulpit and press is delusive, when as- 
suring the nation of its purity and progress in righteous- 
ness. Degeneration is the signal of warning, and its sign 
is written upon the condition of the people, religiously and 
socially. As the end of the Jewish nation drew nearer, 
the more deaf became that nation to the words of God as 
voiced through the prophet; and so, the closer the Gentile 
nation approaches the end of her race, the more blind will 
the people become to the true meaning of the Word of the 
Lord. Though the Pharisees had corrupted their religion 
until the last vestige of saving merit was gone, they still 
compassed "land and sea to make one proselyte; and after 
they had made him so, he was twofold more a child of hell 
than they themselves were." Are we not producing the 
same manner of history to-day ? If they reaped confusion, 
shall not like seeds produce a like harvest for us? 

We now turn to the task of giving a Scriptural solu- 
tion of what some have called "The Problem of India." If 
that is solved, it will apply to all other lands in darkness. 
In introducing the solution, it is indispensably necessary 
to found that solution upon several incontrovertible propo- 
sitions. Unless we do this, we shall have accomplished 
nothing in the end. 

First, God is just, and has shown Himself and His 
works to be so in all dispensations. 

Second, for this reason He can not bring any one to 
judgment unless such an one knows the conditions of the 
law under which he is judged. 

Third, He opened the way for every dispensation, and 
by His own intervention He closed it. 

The antediluvian world went down in ignorance of any 
law that had power to save the soul, upon which judgment 
is based; and in order to show justice in judgment, God 



364 "Ammi— My People/' 

sent the message of that law to them; as evidence the tes- 
timon}^ of the apostle : "For Christ hath once suffered for 
sins, the jnst for the unjust, that He might bring us to 
God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by 
[Gr. m] the Spirit ; b}^ which also He went and preached 
unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobe- 
dient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the 
daj^s of Noah, while the ark was a preparing/'^^ "For 
this cause was the Gospel preached unto them that are 
dead, that they might be judged according to men in the 
flesh, but live according to God in the spirit/'^^ 

God hath said that '^'^in the mouth of two or three wit- 
nesses shall every word be established;'' and this we have 
here; consequently, no further comment is needed. That 
this was as literally done as Christ preached in the flesh to 
the flesh, nothing but unbelief and ignorance will attempt 
to question. Xotice the thought, "that they might be 
judged according to men in the flesh.'' Here God has laid 
a precedent by which He can establish justice in judgment; 
and, further, the same Gospel or law shall be the basis of 
that judgment. "Because He [God] hath appointed a day 
in which He will judge the world, ... by Jesus 
Christ according to My Gosjoel." Hear the words of the 
Lord: "I judge no man, but the words that I speak shall 
judge 5^ou in the last day." The first proposition is im- 
movably fixed and sustained by the Word of Truth. 

By proving the first, the second is self-evident. If the 
aiitediluvian world must have the Gospel in order to pre- 
pare them for judgment, justice demands that all other 
worlds, or people, must have the like opportunity. Other- 
wise heaven and earth could not establish justice. This 
premise lies within the scope of human conception, and 
that is the path that God follows in revelation. If not, 
there is no revelation. That the entire world was held 
under the bondage of literal and spiritual death (and both 



28 1 Peter 111, 18. 29 i peter iv, 



Missionary Work. 365 

mean separation from God) from Adam until the resur- 
rection of Christ from the grave, is so plainly taught in 
the Scriptures that there is no cause for any one to be in 
error upon that point. The testimony of the apostle is: 
"Neither is there salvation in any other name : for there 
is none other name given under heaven among men whereby 
we must be saved.^' "AYherefore God hath highly exalted 
Him, and given Him a name which is above every name, 
that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow." "For as 
in Adam all died, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." 
"But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, 
afterward they are Christ^s at His coming." "Neverthe- 
less death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over them 
that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's trans- 
gression." Upon this last quotation there is a difference 
of opinion; some holding that the spirits of the righteous 
from the time of Moses were not held under the bondage 
of spiritual death, but went to the paradise of God. Upon 
two points this position will be found in error. 

First, the spirits of Abraham and all the faithful who 
lived previous to Moses are excluded in the quotation ; and 
Abraham was called "The Friend of God." 

Second, that covenant, under which Moses was admin- 
istrator, could not remove any form of sin. It was a re- 
membrance of sin, and could make nothing "perfect." 

Again, if there was salvation by any other means or 
name, then Christ is not the exclusive Savior. 

For these reasons, and others that might be offered, the 
position referred to is not tenable. 

The only consistent and correct conclusion is, since man 
and mankind were debarred from the tree of life by a 
'^flaming sword that turned every way" in order to guard 
it, there was no way for man to approach it until the Lion 
of the Tribe of Judah came, who had power to remove the 
sword, and open the seals, and give life. All that man lost 
in Adam was redeemed in the sacrifice of Christ. Not, 



366 "Ammi— My People/' 

however, that the sacrifice of Christ gave mankind an heir- 
ship in heaven, but on the condition that man would take 
up under, or accept, the will that the death of Christ sealed. 
True, mankind was redeemed from under the curse of the 
law, but not from the demands of the Gospel. Not until 
the hearing and acceptance of the terms of the Gospel will 
salvation reach any individual, in any dispensation or con- 
dition. While it is true that where there is no law, there 
is no transgression, we must also remember that there are 
hereditary stains of sin that nothing but the sacrifice of 
Jesus would or could reach; for without the shedding of 
blood there is no remission of sins. 

The supremacy of Christ and His Gospel is now firmly 
established, and the justice of God in administering the 
same to all men is also confirmed. But the answer to the 
question, "How and by what means shall the Gospel reach 
all men?" is, "By the uniform means that God hath or- 
dained." Known unto God were all His works from the 
foundation of the world. As the Gospel is a perfect plan 
of salvation, so, in the same proportion, is the plan by 
which all men shall receive it, — "perfect." While on earth, 
Christ preached to men in the flesh as He was in the flesh. 
By no other means could He have reached the spirits of 
men that were dwelling in the flesh. "Earth to earth, dust 
to dust, and flesh to flesh," — ^this is God's way, and it is 
reasonable, and the only way that is reasonable. 

By Christ's death in the flesh. He was made alive in 
the Spirit. By which, says the apostle. He went and 
preached the Gospel to the spirits in prison, — preached the 
Gospel to those who had never heard it, and never would 
have heard it unless He had taken it to them. They heard 
it in the Spirit, because Christ was in the Spirit when He 
preached it to them. At one time the Savior came to His 
disciples in such a manner as to confound them. They 
could not understand His going and coming without open- 
ing the doors, and they thought He was a spirit. His 



Missionary Work:. 367 

answer was, "A spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see 
I\le have/^ plainly giving them, and a:ll others, to under- 
stand that disembodied and embodied spirits have no com- 
munication. As Christ preached the Gospel to the unin- 
formed spirits who, being ignorant of the Gospel, could 
not come to judgment without it, so likewise the Spirit 
is, and has been, preaching the same Gospel to all the un- 
informed spirits that ever went to judgment, or ever will 
go there, uninformed. An}i:hing short of this must prove 
God unjust and partial; which is a thing as impossible as 
it is for God to lie. Shall not the God of all the earth do 
right ? But "There is no device in the grave, to which we 
are all hasting.^' "Shall the dust praise Thee?*' "The 
dead praise Thee not.'' "Wilt Thou shew wonders to the 
dead? shall the dead arise and praise Thee?" "Shall Thy 
wonders be known in darkness? and Thy loving-kindness 
in the land of f orgetf ulness ?" And so we might go on 
multiplying just such passages throughout the Old Testa- 
ment Scriptures, and array an all but innumerable num- 
ber of such witnesses, that would seem to stand in direct 
opposition to the foregoing solution. 

But before we proceed to examine for the defense, let 
us hear in favor of the plaintiff. This same witness can 
be used on both sides of this question. "0 Lord, Thou 
hast searched me, and known me. . . . Whither shall 
I go from Thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from Thy 
presence? If I ascend up into heaven. Thou art there: 
if I m.ake my bed in hell, behold Thou art there ; if I take 
the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts 
of the sea, even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy 
right hand shall hold me.'' "Hell is naked before Him, 
and destruction hath no covering." "Hell from beneath 
is moved." "And in hell he lifted up His eyes." 

In summing up the testimony, the first point is, that 
this promiscuous use of the word "hell" is misleading. If 
we accept the word "Hades," the place for prisoned spirits. 



368 "Ammi— My People/' 

it brings us m harmony with the Gospel, and makes a uni- 
formity of condition ; and this is necessary, because of uni- 
formity of cause. Concerning the testimony that can be 
gathered from the Old Testament Scriptures upon this 
point, there must be allowance made, and that from the 
most reasonable grounds. The apostle who was caught up 
into Paradise has declared unto the world that there were 
some things that were hid from the minds of men in former 
ages, but have been revealed now unto the sons of men. 
His words are : "How that by revelation He made known 
unto me the mystery, which in other ages was not made 
known unto the sons of men, as is now revealed unto His 
holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. Wherefore I was 
made a minister, . . . that I should preach among 
the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. And to 
make all men see what is the fellowship of mystery, which 
from the beginning of the world was hid in God." It was 
this mystery surrounding the captivity of men to which 
Paul was aiming to call attention. In the following chap- 
ter he comes to the point : "Wherefore He saith, when 
He ascended upon high He led captivity captive, and gave 
gifts unto men. (Now that He ascended, what is it but 
that He also descended first into the lower parts of the 
earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended 
up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things).'' 
Again, in referring to this mystery, he says : "Even the 
mystery which hath been hid from ages and from genera- 
tions, but is now made manifest to His saints." 

That the uninformed spirits are conscious, and have 
power to receive the Gospel, and also power to choose, is 
proven by the mission of Christ to the world, and the tes- 
timony of the Apostle Peter, with Paul. This much is now 
settled beyond dispute by those who want the truth; and 
others we have no desire to contend with. That Christ's 
preaching was in order to establish a righteous judgment 
is also confirmed by the Apostle Peter. And, lastly, by no 



Missionary Work. 369 

other means, and in no other way, could justice and order 
be sustained, and this is the watchword of Heaven, and 
must be defended by God's people. 

We have now found a solution upon the plain teaching 
of the Scriptures, as to the lot of those who have gone down 
in ignorance. This brings us to the last of the three propo- 
sitions ; namely, God opened the way for every dispensation, 
and, by His intervention. He closed it. 

God closed the Adamic period by bringing the flood. 
He closed the Noachian period by burning the cities of 
Sodom and Gomorrah with fire. He closed the Abrahamic 
period by sending Moses to deliver His people from their 
accursed bondage. He warned the house of Israel time and 
again how He would interfere in the closing of their dis- 
pensation, and made His word good. He opened this dis- 
pensation, by sending Christ to preach the Gospel, and by 
prophecy has told the world how He will intervene in the 
closing scenes, and especially in the matter of preaching 
the Gospel to the uninformed. His words are: "And I 
saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the 
everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the 
earth, and to every nation, kindred, and tongue, and 
people. '^ 

Have not the nations been told that "I am Alpha and 
Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last ?'' 
Did Heaven ever begin an}i;hing and leave it for man to 
finish? It has been plainly shown that God began every 
dispensation, and in His own way and manner closed them ; 
and, after having so plainly foretold us how He will close 
this one, need we have any fear that, if we abide by His 
decree, it will not end in justice? If the nations, — and 
especially the religious ones, — could have had their way, 
God would have been robbed of His Word long ere this. 
By their present zeal, if they had their way. Heaven could 
not make His words come to pass. 

The angel of which the Revelator speaks has a mission, 
24 



370 "Ammi— My People/' 

and that mission is to preach the Gospel to every nation, 
kindred, tongue, and people that dwell on the earth. 
There are three reasons for this: As God opened and 
closed every previous dispensation, law demands that He 
intervene in the closing of this one also. Second, the 
spirit of Antichrist, under the most powerful and deceptive 
form of pretending to serve God, will prohibit His true 
servants from preaching the Gospel in its purity. As there 
was a famine, — but not for the want of bread and water, — 
in the closing scenes of the Jewish nation, so likewise there 
will be a famine of Truth in the end of the Gentile time. 
Nor are we so very far removed from that time even now. 
The third reason is, the Gospel sun will have set and spir- 
itual darkness will cover the whole earth to the degree that 
the words of the prophet are again fulfilled. "Darkness 
shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people.^^ Un- 
der this condition there will be many thousands, and pos- 
sibly millions, that have never had the opportunity of hear- 
ing the truth, who can not come to judgment understand- 
ingly. God, being all just, could neither save nor con- 
demn them while they are in ignorance of His Word ; and 
in order that He be no respecter of persons, He has wisely 
and Fatherly and justly provided that an angel shall com- 
plete the preaching of the everlasting Gospel of Truth to all 
that shall dwell on the earth before Christ shall come to 
set up His kingdom ; which will be after the smiting of the 
''image," the Man of Sin, the Beast, whose deadly wound 
was healed in connection with the Beast that came up out 
of the earth, having two horns like a lamb, but speaking 
as a dragon, — evidently meaning the Protestant world; as 
also the Mystery Bab3don, the Mother of Harlots, which 
sitteth upon the seven hills, and the Beast whose number 
is six hundred threescore and six. All these different 
names in reality refer to the spirit of Antichrist, that will 
rule the earth in connection with the False Prophet at the 
close of the Gentile time. 



Missionary Work. 371 

Nothing can be more clear to the observing mind than 
that there will be three divisions of the inhabitants of the 
earth when the "stone^^ shall smite the "image." The one 
will be Eomanism, the Man of Sin, who opposeth and ex- 
alteth himself above all that is called God, so that he as 
God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he 
is God. The other will be the False Prophet, — Moham- 
medanism, the followers of Mohammed, — that will finally 
swallow np almost the entire Eastern country, the land of 
darkness. The last, and but few in number, will be the 
remnant of spiritual Israel, the people of God. 

Shortly before the smiting of the image, the Gentile 
kingdom, the Gospel, by the mouth of the flying angel, 
will be preached unto every living soul upon the face of 
the earth ; and the closing warning is : "Fear God, and give 
glory to Him: for the hour of His Judgment is come." 
This is the closing scene of missionary work upon the 
earth. As God in ('hrist, and Christ in God, began it, so 
God and Christ, through the angel, will complete it. And, 
furthermore, so perfect will have been the spreading ^f 
the Gospel, that not one soul that has ever been born, or 
ever will be born (who are accountable to law) will come 
into judgment without having heard the Gospel, and ob- 
tained a chance to accept or reject it. Here is perfectness 
in means, as well as in matter ; and anything short of this 
is not becoming of God. 

The "Problem of India" has now been solved ; and what 
will apply there, will apply to all other lands of darkness 
upon the testimony of the Gospel itself, and is found to be 
in accord with God^s dealing with the world since the be- 
ginning. His declaration is, "I change not." We will 
briefly sum up the conclusion, and arrange the points so 
they can be considered together. 

The solution is in accord with the ways of God through- 
out the existence of all dispensations. It shows the wis- 
dom, the power, the love^ the mercy, as well as the justice, 



372 ''Ammi— My People." 

of God. It shows the fullness of the mission of Christ as 
a Counselor, a Deliverer, a Savior, a Conqueror, and a 
Eedeemer. It gives all mankind an equal opportunity to 
be saved, and shows the willingness of God to save them; 
while it removes every obstacle that man might attempt to 
throw in his own way. It displays the Infinite Mind in a 
manner that has the strongest influence to draw men to 
adore Him who created them ; not to destroy them, but to 
save them; not to punish them, but to free them, and 
eternally to bless them, with boundless means to accom- 
plish that end. It solves, in the most complete sense, the 
question why man, in all ages and under all conditions, 
has never lost the principle of worship and the hope of 
something beyond that which is in sight. It proves that 
whether man loves light or darkness; whether he be civil- 
ized or heathen; whether barbarian or cannibal, the time 
will come when the spirits of all men shall stand before the 
Creator and answer the questions, "What think ye of 
Christ ? Whose Son is He ?" It increases faith and hope 
in God, and in the eternal sacrifice of His blessed Son, our 
Lord. It shows God to be consistent, true, and Just, and 
reveals His Word in its beauty and splendor, and gives the 
people of God an answer for the hope they do not have in 
the "Missionary Giant.'^ It will save the useless sacrifice 
of lives, time, and money, and rid the religious bodies of 
their ever-increasing parasites, who, like the shepherds of 
Israel, prey upon the flock instead of feeding it. It will 
rob many of the means by which they are deceived, and 
show the falsity of zeal without knowledge, while it may 
be the means of going far to enlighten the heathen nearer 
home, and purify the souls of those who live in the land 
of Day. It does not include those who hear the truth now, 
and spurn it; nor those who claim to believe it, and in 
their works deny it. It includes those, and those only, who 
go down to the grave without knowing the Gospel by having 
had no opportunity of hearing it. 



Missionary Work. 373 

As Paul said to the men of Rome, when, after the night 
of mythology had wrapped the city and inhabitants in 
ignorance and superstition, "The night is far spent, the 
day is at hand : let us therefore cast off the works of dark- 
ness, and let us put on the armor of light -J' so it can be 
now said. The day is far spent, the night is fast coming 
upon us when again around the nations will be folded the 
mantle of doubt and disbelief in the words of Truth, 
while they make provisions for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts 
thereof. We can not fold our hands in indolence, and re- 
fuse to do our duty, because the grace of God does and 
v/ill abound. "Shall we continue in sin that grace may 
abound ? God forbid !" The day of Christ is upon us ; let 
us quit ourselves like men; let us go forth unto our work 
and our labor until the evening; and when the Sun of 
Righteousness shall have set as a servant, that He may rise 
in His beauty, bringing with Him the breaking of the 
dawn of the resurrection, hailing the day of triumph over 
death and the grave, then shall the righteous come forth 
with the brightness of the morning and shine as the stars 
for ever and ever. 



DEATH, NATURAL AND SPIEITUAL-THE OB- 
JECT AND MEANING OF BOTH. 

The statement that "all things are possible with God" 
can not be accepted in an unlimited sense. Nor can it be 
thought that onr Lord intended such a construction to be 
placed upon His words when they were uttered. While the 
finite mind can not reason out the things that belong to 
God, faith has never asked ns to accept an absurdity; nor 
has revelation proved to be unreasonable. What God de- 
signs to do is possible for Him to do; but wisdom never 
undertakes to do impossible things, and revelation has no 
interest in absurdities. We reason from the known to the 
unknown, the only path that man can travel; and lo, for- 
sooth, we find our limit much nearer than we anticipated ; 
yet not content to yield to defeat in that which may still 
be within our reach, we try again. It matters not the field 
we choose, nor who does the choosing, alike to all come 
clouds of mist, and we lose our bearing. In no path where 
we are called to labor should we use as great caution as in 
the one that leads to the life beyond. And as we shall 
never pass this way again, our interest must increase as 
our days lengthen. 

Fiction may run in haste, and care but little for the 
trace it leaves, since at the best it is but a shadow, — the 
shadow of imagination. Truth is real, and her steps slow, 
guarding well the path, and, holding every inch that is 
gained, she builds steadily for eternity upon a faith that 
knows no defeat, reaching her goal in safety. Truth knows 
no limit. Death is far too 3^oung to be her master, and, 
standing by death's victim, she says that death itself will 
die. "For there shall be no more death; neither sorrow 

374 



Death, InTatural and Spiritual. 375 

nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the 
former things are passed away." Whatever view we may 
take of death, or wherever we may find it, and whatever 
luay we may define it, the real thing and its meaning is 
the opposite of life. We are taught that life is mysterious, 
and holds within itself the mystery of all being; but i;o 
less true is it in regard to death. As there could be no life 
unless death preceded it, so likewise there could be no 
death unless life had gone before. Upon first thought, 
these statements may seem to be contradictor}^, yet if we 
note the two principles carefully, we shall find them to be 
in the same relation in which many other things stand, 
the one to the other. 

We are subjects of passing time so far as we are af- 
fected by death, and for that reason we must begin where 
time and revelation began. Since it was said to the living 
being in the morning of life, "The day that thou eatest 
thereof thou shalt die," life and death have been racing 
for the lead. We are apt to form conclusions, and confine 
ourselves to mere assertions, that in many cases are hard 
to maintain, and ];iot unfrequently impossible, because of 
their being untrue. As to death being the antecedent of 
life, it is true only in the sense of generation or increase. 
Science may speculate upon the term death ; men may 
philosophize about it ; the nations may stand in awe of it ; 
yet nevertheless, so long as the things of time and imper- 
fection last, death will be present, and the orthodox defini- 
tion of it will prove to be the best that the world has ever 
had, or will have, — "a separating of parts." The defini- 
tion no doubt is somewhat restricted, yet withal it is 
correct. 

It was the separating of parts that gave birth to crea- 
tion, and by this simple process all life is sustained. There 
is not a plant or animal in the bounds of creation that does 
not owe its existence to some previous death, or a separat- 
ing of parts. Further, that every organism contains the 



376 "Ammi— My People/' 

principle of death within itself while it is living, is also 
true. And it is further true that, if such were not the 
case, there could be no life upon the earth. There is a 
breaking down, and wearing out, and building up, and a 
separating process continually at work, in order that the 
organism may possess new tissues, which fit it for the de- 
mands of life. Natural death is as consistent as that 
there should, be natural life; and, by parity of reasoning, 
spiritual death is as reasonable as that there should be 
spiritual life, so long as a double environment is present 
with imperfection in one part of that environment. One 
is the counterpart of the other, and each, in its separate 
field, is the same thing. Man, by nature, is but a rational 
animal; and the only supremacy that he can claim over 
the lower part of creation is, that he has received an en- 
dowment from his Creator that can not become uncon- 
scious. Apart from this, he is subject to the effects of 
time, the same as the lily, the oak, or the young bird in the 
nest. The scientific definition of death, — the state of be- 
ing unconscious of our surroundings, — is true in the nat- 
ural sense, but it can not be accepted as true in the spir- 
itual, because the endowment which man possesses can 
never arrive at the state of unconsciousness, inasmuch as 
it is eternal, part of God. The body and all material sub- 
stance will of necessity encounter death, but the spirit 
and soul of man, never. The world may boast of its 
science and its learned men; it may philosophize, and 
tlieorize, and idealize, yet when all is told, there is but one 
true science, that knows all law, that knows where to 
apply all law, and knows the final result of all law; and 
that is the Word of the living God, which contains all the 
wisdom this world can gather, and calls it foolishness ; and 
comprehends all that eternity contains, and calls it wis- 
dom. However, we need not be surprised that man, apart 
from revelation, should arrive at an imperfect solution of 
death when applied to spiritual matters ; the only thing that 



Death, Natural and Spiritual. 377 

can occasion marvel of thought is, that he should come so 
near the correct solution. 

We are far too hasty in calling natural death our 
enemy. That death is an enemy is admitted, but not in 
the natural signification, when properly understood. God 
could not have placed an eternal substance in a taberna- 
cle, subject to time, and confined it there through eternity. 
Since eternity has neither beginning nor end, subjects of 
time can in no sense be made eternal without destroying 
the meaning of eternity, and reducing God to a mere 
equality with matter. Hence natural or corporeal death 
is inevitable, if man is ever to enjoy the habitation of his 
Maker. The old theology, which taught that natural death 
is the fruit of sin, is not correct; neither is the theology 
which taught, and may yet be teaching, that God made the 
world out of nothing; one is as impossible as the other; 
and both are unreasonable to the conception of God and 
man. There is but one solution of the problem, out of the 
three that have been advanced.; and that one is the doctrine 
which the Greek fathers held, — the only one consistent 
with the correct meaning of the word death. The prints 
left in the sands of time by men who feared God and 
served Him in simplicity, when read by us is, that creation 
is founded upon the Logos, or form- of expression, from 
God : Jehovah spoke, and it was done. But what could result 
from speaking to nothing ? The speech of command suggests 
the presence of something, which could be none other than 
the external glory of God Himself. Since nothing can be 
entirely consumed or destroyed, we are compelled to the 
conclusion that the Greek fathers were right, because of the 
rational consistency of their language. 

When we seriously consider the unreasonableness of 
many theories that are proclaimed in the pulpit and press, 
we wonder no longer that the nations are groping in dark- 
ness. If in our meditations we follow the process that 
leads from the less to the greater, — the path that God al- 



378 "Ammi — My People/' 

ways travels, — the fact of creation and its growth is evi- 
dent on every hand. The unit of the sea is but a drop; 
the mountain a grain of sand ; the oak an acorn, — first the 
blade, then the stock, and by and by the ripe corn in the 
ear. The psalmist, when meditating npon the works of 
God, finally breaks forth in the following beautiful words : 
^'When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, 
the moon and the stars which Thou hast ordained; what 
is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of 
man, that Thou visitest him ? Thou hast made him a lit- 
tle lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory 
and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the 
work of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his 
feet.^' This is the pinnacle of man's earthly glory. By 
transgression man lost all that made life worth living, and 
brought a curse upon it after it was lived. In the act of 
transgression man died, and his death, in the Scriptures, 
is called spiritual death, — a separating from God, a break- 
ing of communion and fellowship with God, and a parting 
with innocence. In this condition man is said to have 
been lost, cut off from correspondence with God, shut out 
of the environment where God met him; and thus he be- 
came dead, spiritually dead. 

This is the first death that man experienced. For proof 
we turn to the language of John the Eevelator: "And 
death and hell were cast into the lake of fire; this is the 
second death." The words of Jesus, when speaking of the 
same scene, are: "Depart from me, ye cursed ones, into 
everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." 
This is, by the authority of Heaven called the "second 
death;" a separating from God; a departing from God. 
There can not be a second unless there be a first ; and there 
is in the departing from God in the garden and the de- 
parting from God in the final da}^ of judgment a like- 
ness that can not be disallowed; one is the parallel of the 
other; and in both is the evidence of a spiritual death, a 



Death, Natural and Spiritual. 379 

separating from God^ who is Spirit. Accepting this chain 
of reasoning, our position is sustained wherever applied. 

The theory is maintained by some that the words, "The 
day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die," referred to cor- 
poreal death ; and when the command was broken, man be- 
came subject to natural death; and as a day with God is as 
a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day; and 
as no man ever lived to the age of a thousand years; and 
further, as the Greek rendering of the command is, "dying 
thou shalt die," therefore, it was the natural death that 
was brought about by the transgression. The reasoning is 
good enough, but the basis is incorrect. God did not 
reckon with man in comparison with Himself. Man was 
a creature d^ time, and of perishing material, and the de- 
cree had already gone forth, "The evening and the morn- 
ing were the first day." This limited day man could com- 
prehend, and this day only, then and now. There is not a 
circumstance in the entire volume of God's law to show 
that He at any time dealt with man upon the basis of a 
thousand years save in the coming millennial period. 

It is said by the prophet, "I have given a day for a 
year," and aside from this, and the lengthening of the day 
in the time of Joshua, and the reference to a day coming 
when "at evening time it shall be light," no passages will 
be found in the Scriptures relating to a day of longer dura- 
tion than twenty-four hours. It is dangerous, when deal- 
ing with God's Word, to first read our own opinion into 
the text, and then read it out to suit our hypothesis. This 
is not interpretation, but falsifying the Book of Truth. 
Natural death is not an enemy to man, but one of his 
richest blessings, though like many of the best things we 
receive, it comes in disguise. Destroy the principle of 
death, and there would be no harvest, here or beyond. If 
the plant did not die there would be no matured fruit; 
for it is the maturing of the fruit that brings about natural 
death; and this God evidently appointed in the creation. 



380 "Ammi— My People/' 

So far as natural death is concerned, man came from the 
hands of his Maker with that appointment. 

Disease, pain, affliction, sorrow, tears, crying, and gen- 
eral degeneration, are the fruit of sin. All this is ad- 
mitted, and more. The cnrse that rests upon everything 
that was made, even to the earth, that brings forth thorns 
and thistles, is the fruit of sin. Wars, contention, famine, 
pestilence, earthquakes, and the destructive storms that 
seem to become more numerous every season, are all the 
fruit of sin. And still more, the mandate that "All things 
shall be made new," is on account of sin. There are many 
premature deaths, the cause of which can be traced to sin ; 
but this is not saying that all the deaths we call prema- 
ture are so. It has been said, "Better is the day of one's 
death than the day of one's birth ;" but who knows it, but 
God ? He gives and He can take, and both the giving and 
the taking are blessed ; and we show wisdom when we join 
in saying, "Blessed is the name of the Lord." Natural 
death is built upon one of the most reasonable causes that 
could produce an effect. The body being composed of per- 
ishable material lends strength to the reason that it should 
meet with dissolution; for time itself is perishable, and 
must die. 

Again, that which renders support to the bedy perishes 
and dies, and hence the body under no circumstances can 
be other than subject to death. This is the meaning of 
natural death ; and does not the arrangement become the 
Infinite Mind? In what other way could the purpose of 
God be accomplished, and at the same time be so natural 
and reasonable? 

But there is still a far deeper meaning attached to 
natural death than has been even hinted at up to this point 
in our seeking for light. "It is one of the things in na- 
ture that has its counterpart in the spiritual," and so the 
real symbol is often lost sight of. By natural death the 
nature and effect of spiritual death are brought within the 



Deatpi^ Natural and Spiritual. 881 

bounds of man's comprehension, and he is enabled to 
measure the signification of the unknown by the things 
that are known; for unless there be an object or principle 
established in the natural domain, man could not by any 
force or power within the scope of his knowledge be able 
to comprehend the design of God's revelation. Again we 
say, there is not a spiritual truth but has its basis in the 
realm of the natural. Destroy this fact, and man can no 
more comprehend the design of God than the finite can 
comprehend the Infinite. 

In turning to the Mosaic 'Covenant we find this prin- 
ciple demonstrated in the force and power that God alone 
could give it. The Apostle Paul grasped the thought 
readily, and reduced it to simplicity, by saying, "The law 
was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.''^ While 
Christ was the end of the law for righteousness, it may 
not be said that the righteousness of the law was lost; but 
all the righteousness of the law is transferred by Christ 
over to the Gospel. There may yet be some who claim to 
be "New Testament Brethren," but the time is not far 
when they will be without a Testament, Old or N"ew. 

The entire Sinaitic covenant was built upon the prin- 
ciple of natural death, or the death of natural victims. 
That was the end and extent of the covenant, so far as the 
covenanters as a nation could see. But the meaning that 
God designed it to have went beyond their altars of wood 
and stone. "It was a show that taught a teaching shadow,'^ 
and that shadow was intended to reflect the cross. Only 
natural death could explain the sense and meaning of the 
spiritual; and since man was acquainted with that, it 
served the purpose of the Divine Mind to use it. Teach- 
ing by object lessons has been the plan pursued by Heaven 
through all revelation to impress the truth upon the minds 
of the generations. In order that the world might com- 
prehend the depth into which it had been plunged by spir- 

iGal.iii,24, 



382 "Ammi— My People/' 

itual death, God prepared the scene of the cross on Mount 
Horeb in the days of Abraham when that patriarch was 
called to offer up his son Isaac. From this lesson we, toO; 
gather a reflection, though it be as from a glass that is 
darkened. The mother of Jesus had been told by the 
prophet, "Yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own 
soul, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."^ 
It was said of the mother, "She kept those sayings in her 
heart." With the tenderness of love that only a mother 
knows she watched the lad from Bethlehem to Egypt, from 
Egypt to Nazareth, from Nazareth to the Temple; and as 
the years passed by, no doubt her heart and soul were knit 
the more closely to her boy. But did the cross ever occur 
to her? It is mother and God who keep the secrets; and 
upon the soul of either may not the dim but certain 
outlines of the cross have been drawn? We know 
with God it was so. It was not enough that Christ should 
die, — the manner of his dying comprises the meaning. He 
was an only Son, the Son of God, that died upon the cross 
for sinners. He was pure and just, and died upon the 
cross to show what was required to bring the impure and 
unjust to God. No scene in heaven or upon earth is worthy 
to be compared with it. God, through the prophets, had 
foretold it ; angels and men could repeat it ; but it took the 
literal cross, and Jesus upon it, to fully portray what was 
intended ; and it is standing still as an emblem and living 
witness of the price that was paid to redeem man and man- 
kind from the effects of spiritual death. Life abounds 
with many lessons that teach us how to die. But death is 
fraught with still more that teach us how to live. 

Life is real, and so real is it that all other realities are 
combined in it; 5^et it still remains for natural death to 
open the door that those realities may be realized. Of such 
immeasurable consequence is natural death, that there can 
be no spiritual life without it. Through the most natural 

2 Luke ii, 35. 



Death^ Xatural and Spiritual. 383 

result of law the organism is sustained by an imperfect 
environment; and, since death is the necessary result of 
imperfection, and the necessary end of it, we can the more 
readily comprehend the saying of Jesus, "Fear not those 
who can destroy the body only." It is through death that 
we part with the imperfect to receive the perfect; the 
shuffling off of the mortal that we may put on the im- 
mortal; the glorious leaving of the things of time to meet 
with those of eternity. "To die is gain." This life is 
sweet when crowned with blessings, and many there be 
that await our plucking. But, alas ! the hidden thorns be- 
neath the rose leave scars as we are passing; and who 
stands with outstretched arms but death to await our com- 
ing? When toils and cares, and hopes and fears; when 
love and peace, and joy and bliss, have given us all they 
can; when in our declining years we hasten to our setting 
sun, — how sweet to think we fall asleep, — "asleep in 
Jesus !" 

The apostle, in speaking of the victory over death and 
the grave, is not, as is often claimed, referring to natural 
death and the grave ; that is far short of his meaning. The 
enemy to whom he refers is the one who had the power 
over spiritual death, of which the natural death and the 
grave is a fitting S3^mbol of the effects of the sting of sin. 
The power which was possessed by the enemy of our souls 
lay in the binding of the spirits of all men and mankind 
to the regions below; and nothing in nature could so forci- 
bly teach the meaning of that power as death and the grave. 
And further, we do know as a certainty that the last enemy 
of whose destruction the apostle speaks, is death, and with 
equal certainty we know that it is not natural death that is 
here referred to, from the fact that the unrighteous have 
the same promise of the resurrection as the righteous ; the 
only difference is in time and relation. And still more, 
the grave will give up its inhabitants before the effects of 
the last or second death shall come. This fact remains in- 



384 ^ "Ammi— My People." 

controvertibly established^ no matter what our previous 
opinions may have been. The power of spiritual death 
over the souls and spirits of men is the only thing that can 
outlive the grave. The doctrine that the sting of sin was 
the cause of corporeal deaths and that that is what the 
apostle had in view, we think, is a most grievous error, and 
is one way of preaching the devil's falsehood. There is 
not the least distinction between the natural death of the 
innocent child and the grossest sinner ; all die alike, and it 
"happens unto the righteous at times as though he was 
wicked, and unto the wicked as though he was righteous."^ 
Nor is there any difference in their resurrection only as to 
time and relation. The promise of a resurrection was as- 
sured long before Christ died, but not the fullness of a 
blessed redemption. The prophets spoke of it, and there 
were those who looked forward to it; yet the redemption 
through Christ was but dimly seen. 

The following words of the apostle are conclusive evi- 
dence in favor of our position: "Who hath saved us, and 
called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, 
but according to His own purpose and grace, which was 
given in Christ Jesus before the world began.''* God's own 
purpose was to redeem the world through Christ before the 
world was made, according to the expression of the apostle ; 
but until Christ was made manifest, that grace was a mys- 
tery to men and angels: "But now is made manifest by 
the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abol- 
ished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light 
through the Gospel." The question is. What death has been 
abolished ? Surely not natural death. Christ did not come 
to abolish that which God had appointed ; He came to ful- 
fill that which God had appointed; and in fulfilling that 
which God had appointed, "He died Himself ; and, through 
that dying, He destroyed him who had the power of death, 
that is the devil, and delivered them who through fear of 



3 Eccles. viii, 14. * 2 Tim. 1, 9. 



Death^ Natural and Spiritual. 385 

death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." It is 
said, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." If natural 
death is here meant, then where is the line to be drawn be- 
tween the innocent and the guilty? The one has no pre- 
eminence over the other, and the words, "The wicked shall 
be cast into hell with all the nations that forget God," 
have no meaning. 

Again, what are we to understand by the words, "That 
through death He might destroy him who had the power 
'of death, that is the devil ?" Has the devil been destroyed ? 
J^ot yet ! The fact is, the power which the devil exercised 
over all that had died has been destroyed, and by that act 
the object of the resurrection has been fulfilled, and this 
is the victory over the grave. The clearness with which 
the apostle grasped the thought before us he has expressed 
thus : "Behold, I shew you a mystery : We shall not all 
sleep; but we shall all be changed." Upon what did this 
mystery rest? The answer is, upon the fact that "flesh 
and blood can not inherit the kingdom of heaven." Here 
is the conclusion: Flesh and blood can not inherit the 
kingdom of heaven. "The last enemy that shall be de- 
stroyed is death." Can we thence conclude that the method 
by which we reach our eternal habitation is in opposition to 
God ? Or did God ever appoint His own enemy ? N'ever ! 
Many things are enemies to God, but not by His creation 
or appointment. Let the application be made to the king 
of terrors, — spiritual death, — -and all is consistent and 
plain. 

There are four conditions spoken of in the Scriptures 
in which man is said to be dead : First, dead in trespasses 
and in sin ; second, dead to sin ; third, natural or corporeal 
death; fourth, the second death. The sacrifice upon the 
cross delivered, and will deliver, all from the effects of 
the first death, or dead in sin, who will apply the virtue of 
the Gospel which that death sealed. This is the fullness of 
Christ's saving power to those that accept the terms of His 
25 



386 "Ammi — My People/' 

will. It was the death of "the Lamb of God that took away 
the sin of the world/' When freed from the deadening 
power of sin, Ave become dead to sin, but alive to God. The 
corporeal death is such a blessing that none have been de- 
prived of it ; for "it is appointed "unto man once to die.'' 

The last, or second death, is death in the deadliest form. 
It is the condition into which sin and ungodliness bring all 
who oppose truth and purity ; it is the lost and ruined state 
of that soul who loves darkness rather than light. It is 
when we are satisfied with sin; when nothing but unright- 
eousness will meet our longings, and we enter into an agree- 
ment with hell, and become co-partners with Satan in op- 
posing God. This is spiritual death. 

The indifference of the nations to the horrors of the 
second death arises from the mistaken conception of the 
teachers in regard to that subject. If there were less 
anxiety about the natural, and more in regard to the reali- 
ties of the spiritual, both body and soul would be purer, 
and our lives better here and hereafter. If the mention of 
the symbol or shadow should so awaken our concern, what 
will be the terror when we come in the presence of the sub- 
stance? If the presence of a dead body is such unwhole- 
some company, what must be the forebodings that surround 
a dead spirit? As baptism is a symbol of the death and 
burial of the individual to sin and impurity in this life, in 
like manner natural death and the grave have been used to 
demonstrate the power of sin that may separate us from 
God in the world to come. All go to the grave alike, and 
there is the parting of the way, — a door that opens where 
two ways meet, one to freedom, the other to prison; and 
the choice is made before we arrive, and each has done his 
own choosing. The truth is, we are not cast into prison, 
but we, ourselves, choose the road that leads us there. 

And after all is said that should be said, and even more 
than there was need of saying, the question is, what has 
the body to do with the entire subject from start to finish ? 



Death, Natural and Spiritual. 387 

It can not act itself; it is but a house or temple in which 
some living thing is acting; a theater, as it were, where 
the acts are not only inscribed upon the minds of men, 
but with the pen of the recording angel are written in 
heaven. We can not hold the building responsible for the 
acts done within; yet we say it is a good or bad house in 
proportion to the evidence we gather from the inmates. 
Now, this is not in reality the thing we mean : a building is 
good or indifferent in the degree the builder has used skill 
and material in its construction. Is not, then, the body 
good, "whose builder and maker was God?'^ Yes, verily. 
But we as tenants have no perpetual lease, and conse- 
quently we must move out. Whatever stress we may place 
upon the body in life or death, the real solution is. It is but 
the index that points to something beyond that which we 
see, and centers upon that which we feel; and this is the 
pivot upon which the entire structure of time and eternity 
is turning. Our feelings are moved by the things that we 
see and hear ; and may not this be an answer as to why the 
cross was chosen for Christ's dying bed? The cry was, 
"Behold the Man!" 

"And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me.'' 
It was the first thought of all, the thought to see Jesus, 
that they came, the wise men from the East, to see the Babe 
in the manger. On the banks of Jordan the watchword 
was: "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin 
of the world!" The Father in heaven was moved when 
the cry came forth, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I 
am well pleased." The Son of God came into the world 
that men might see Him as well as hear Him; and while 
they wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out 
of His mouth, they were none the less comforted by His 
presence. "Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had 
not died," was the high credit that Martha and Mary, the 
sisters of Lazarus, gave to the presence of Jesus. Kings 
and publicans, Pharisees and scribes, were desirous to see 



388 "Ammi— My People." 

Him, and the nations were moved at the sight of Him. 
Thomas said, "Unless I see;^' the response from Jesus was 
"Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have be- 
lieved." The pleading cr}^ of blind Bartimeus was, "Lord 
that I might see!" He said Himself, "I came into the 
world that those who see not, might see." And has not the 
world seen Him? Do we not all, perchance in some sweet 
hour of meditation and service, see Him passing, and that 
so near we almost feel His touch? And should our eyes 
become so dim by sin that we can not see, and our ears so 
dull that we can not hear Him now, — we shall all see Him, 
and those who pierced Him, if even in some midnight hour 
the cry is heard, "Behold, the bridegroom cometh !" 

Let us ask ourselves the question. Why should Christ 
desire that the scene of His dying should be so continually 
before our minds ? Could we not have remembered Him by 
the scene at the sepulcher, or by His triumphant resurrec- 
tion and the blessed promises that surround it? Ah! It 
was His dying, and that in the most cruel manner, that 
shows the price it took to ransom man from spiritual death. 
"As oft as ye do this, ye do shew forth the Lord's death 
till He come." We see Him in the manger; we see Him 
in the Temple; we see Him in Jordan; w^e see Him in the 
mountain in deep intercession with the Father ; we see Him 
in Gethsemane, and 0, the sweat of blood that came cours- 
ing down his furrowed brow, so deep in thought was He ! 
But apart from these stands the cross alone, to show the 
world its meaning and its worth. "Behold the Man!" It 
is meant that we should see Him noiv, and, in seeing, be 
made partakers of His feelings. We often turn too quickly 
from the cross. It is true His hands and feet are bleeding, 
— bleeding drops of love, and the hanging body adds to the 
bitter cup already overflowing. But see, it is growing dark ; 
the shades of night and death are closing over the scene; 
and while we stand with transfixed gaze, we hear a groan, 
and turning, behold His mother. Was it some new insult 



Deatpi^ N^atural a:n^d Spiritual. 389 

the}' offered that moved this mother to groan? We turn 
again, and, lo, His side have they pierced, and that act of 
piercing has reached the mother's soul ! It is not yet 
enough : the darkness deepens, and it is as though the earth 
and rocks could see and hear. Trembling as with abated 
breath, the universe looks on in silence as if to add more 
meaning to the cry, "My God, My God, why hast Thou for- 
saken Me?" And over the stillness of that dying hour the 
echo floats to the Temple, and entering upon spirit wings, 
rends the veil from top to bottom. We see the altar, but 
where is the victim? We see the ark; but where is the 
covenant ? We see the mercy-seat ; but ah ! the cherubim 
have fled, and in the presence of that holy place, we cry, 
"0 God ! is this the Type of spiritual death, — when Thou 
wilt turn away from man, and man, in turn, depart from 
Thee?" 

We see, we feel, we seem to know, 
But have we read the scene aright? 

Is there not yet some more to learn 
Before our spirits see the light ? 

While the cross portrays to us the measureless depth of 
bodily suffering, there is still behind the veil, — the veil of 
flesh, — an unspeakable agony that mind alone can feel and 
see. We can not see as Thomas saw, but we can feel as 
Thomas felt, and, through the mind, which now alone can 
&ee, be made partakers of His suffering. The body is the 
mirror that reflects the act; the mind alone comprehends 
the meaning; and we have at this point arrived at last 
where the power and result of spiritual death are seen and 
felt. 

The object to be accomplished almost invariably sug- 
gests the means; and the means emplo3^ed measures the 
price of the result. The salvation of the human family 
was the object to be attained; and the priceless blood and 
life of the Son of God was the means by which it was ac- 
complished. The sacrifice of the body of Christ upon the 



390 "Ammi— My People/' 

cross fulfilled the law : that was the substance to which the 
shadow pointed; beyond that all was still a m3^stery. 

There were somC;, but the number was small, who were 
able to see the meaning, as to the coming of Christ, that 
God intended to convey through the prophets; and even 
those who did see and knew the Child when he appeared, 
comprehended not His death, nor the manner of it. To 
the prophet Isaiah was committed the words that most 
clearly portray the dying of the Son of God. In the fifty- 
third chapter of his prophecy we have the scene vividly 
described in language which draws us so near to Calvary 
that our hearts seem to burn within us. In this chapter 
the prophet first proceeds to picture to the mind, in a most 
tender manner, the suffering of Christ as applied to the 
body, in which the law had its fulfillment. In the closing 
verses of that chapter he presents an entirely new thought 
to our minds. His words are : "Yet it pleased the Lord 
to bruise Him ; He hath put him to grief : when thou shalt 
make His soul an offering for sin/' ^ot only was the body 
made an offering, but the soul as well; a thing the law did 
not and could not sustain: and this answers why the law 
could not make the comers thereunto perfect. There are 
three expressions of the prophet in this chapter which dis- 
close the real suffering of Christ, and the true sacrifice. 
'Not until we grasp the thought contained in the following 
words of the prophet, will we be able to comprehend the 
fullness of Christ's death. "He shall see the travail of 
His soul, and shall be satisfied." "Because he hath poured 
out his soul unto death.'' These expressions explain the 
sacrifice upon which the Gospel is founded. 

As God had preconcluded there should be no remission 
of sins Avithout the shedding of blood, upon that basis He 
instituted the law ; but the blood of bulls and of goats could 
not take away sin, and therefore made the servers at the 
altar only ceremoniously clean. By this, God could dwell 
among them. But when the Gospel, which Christ came to 



DeATH^ iVArUlliSL AKD SPIRITUAL. 391 

establish, was to be the means of reconciliation, there was 
to be a closer relationship to God. He now comes to dwell 
in man; and not until the mind or soul of man is recon- 
ciled to God can this be accomplished. Here is the inter- 
pretation of the two manners of sacrifice which Christ 
made upon the cross. And this forever sets at rest the 
anxiety existing in the minds of many as to what is the 
correct meaning of "the soul of man.^^ 

In the first place the prophet speaks of the body of 
Christ in full. He likens it unto a plant in dry ground, and 
without comeliness. Then he slightly introduces the 
thought of His being despised and rejected of men: "A 
man of sorrow and acquainted with grief." With this he 
turns to the object that could be seen : "We hid as it were 
our faces from Him. He was despised, and we esteemed 
Him not." Then he follows this thought until the body 
is finally laid in the grave; and turning to the soul, or 
mind, he foretells three conditions into which this faculty 
of Christ came before the sacrifice was complete. "When 
thou shalt make his soul an offering/'' The body of Christ 
upon the cross presents to the world the picture of the 
depth of physical suffering, and the limit of it in killing the 
body. But mental suffering is beyond all that the body 
may or can indicate, and the soul is here placed as an offer- 
ing. In Gethsemane was the travail of this soul begun, 
when in that night our Lord entered the conflict of redeem- 
ing the souls of men as well as their bodies; and as the 
cross drew nearer and nearer, that travail grew still deeper, 
until, upon the cross, God was satisfied, — and Christ poured 
out His soul unto death. 

First the offering; then the travail in grief.; and lastly 
the Soul dies as a sacrifice for sin. "He was offered for our 
transgressions, and raised again for our justification." The 
error into which many have fallen in regard to the meaning 
of the sacrifice of Christ, in His death, grows out of the 
wrong conception they hold concerning the soul of man. A 



392 "Ammi— My People/' 

large number of ver}^ wise men have held that the soul of 
man is the animal life, or breath of man, his temporal ex- 
istence in this world. If this be true, the sacrifice of Christ 
contained no more than that made under the law ; and al- 
though there exists a wide difference between the kinds of 
body offered, it was nevertheless of perishable material, and 
could not answer for eternity ; nor could it have any power 
beyond the grave. To this doctrine we can not assent, but 
hold that, while the body was offered as a sacrifice, it was 
the soul or mind that contained the significance of power 
that lay in the sacrifice ; and for this reason Paul, in speak- 
ing of the virtue of the atonement, says that Christ 
"through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself,^' that an 
eternal inheritance might be obtained; while the blood of 
temporal things answered to the purifying of the flesh 
under the law, which was but a pattern of the heavenly, 
the heavenly things themselves were with a better sac- 
rifice. At this point we are confronted with the question 
that, since the soul or spirit of man is eternal, and a part 
of God, for that reason it can not die, in the sense of be- 
coming unconscious. This is admitted, and opens the way 
to prove in the most comprehensive manner the true solu- 
tion of the death of Christ. 

It was in the depth of Christ's mental suffering that 
He cried, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me r 
It was the loneliness of the hour that bore upon the Soul 
or Mind of the Son of God. He looked for help, and, lo, 
there was none; all had gone, and He died alone. His 
friends had forsaken Him, and the Father had turned from 
Him; and this is the force and power of spiritual death: 
a separating from God. And, still further, the soul was 
conscious of it. Here is the sense and meaning of spiritual 
death that awaits all who will not consent to make the sac- 
rifice of the soul or mind in order to conform to the death 
of Christ; this is the understanding that Paul had of it, 
and we are inclined to accept his position. The error of 



Death^ Xatckal and Spiritual. 393 

advocating the doctrine of sonl-sleeping, or the unconscious 
condition of the mind after the death of the bod}^, is cer- 
tainly not deduced from the death of Christ. There is 
nothing contained in the Gospel of Christy, either by pre- 
cept or example, that furnishes a basis upon which to build 
such a theory. The fact that the soul or mind is a stranger 
to sleep, while the body is living, is sufficient evidence to 
prove the theory is not based on logic. The mind and spirit 
of man can no more sleep than God can sleep : the whole 
is never greater than the sum of the parts; and upon this 
fact the apostle asserts, there is a time coming when God 
shall be All, and in all. 

The condition of being in prison has no meaning so long 
as the prisoner is unconscious; the fact of being conscious 
gives the word its meaning. Paul was laboring under the 
thought that when he was absent from tjie body he was 
present with the Lord; nor have the faithful in all ages 
passed down a different understanding for those who are 
still waiting on this side of the river. 

Finally, as there is a foretaste of eternal life for us 
Avhile serving God in the flesh, so there is also the deaden- 
ing effect of spiritual death upon the spirit and soul of 
man in this life as well. If "to know God, and Jesus Christ 
whom He has sent,^^ is eternal life, then to be without God, 
to know not God, to be out of correspondence with God, 
is to be carnally-minded; and to be carnally-minded is 
death. 



THE RESUREECTION. 

''If a man die, shall he live again f" — Job. 
''A pillar and fountain of truth, and confessedly great, is 
the secret of piety. God was manifest in the flesh, 
justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the 
Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into 
glory." — Paul. 

Life means growth, growth means expansion, expansion 
means fullness, and fullness meajis perfection. Starting 
from the most minute particles, God builds slowly but 
surely, until the purpose is complete ; nor is there any stop- 
ping place this side of perfection with God. Upon the 
resurrection of the body hangs the hope of all that is to be 
beyond this material world of time and sense. However 
widely the religious world may be divided upon other parts 
of the Scriptures, when we come to this principle, we unite 
in staking there our all. It has been the corner-stone of 
the building upon which faith and hope have worked in 
all ages. It is the only thing that tempers sorrow with 
hope, and throws a ray of light over the darkness that sur- 
rounds the tomb. 

As it has been appointed unto men once to die, so, with 
the same assurance, is the promise of the resurrection ; one 
i? as universal as the other. , "For as in Adam all die, so in 
Christ shall all be made alive."^ While the truth of the 
Adamic inheritance is accepted by all men, the promise in 
Christ has not been as universally conceded ; nevertheless, 
the one is no more a fact than the other; the difference 
lies between the seed-time and the harvest. Nor does it re- 



1 Cor. XV 22. 

394 



The Eesurrection. 395 

quire more faith in the one than in the other, when the 
seed and the harvest are compared. That there should be 
a resurrection of the body, — a coming forth from the grave, 
— is as consistent with the truth as that there should be a 
future life in the body ; and if this be not a fact, then there 
arc no facts. That the finite mind should readily grasp 
the magnitude of this thought is not to be expected; and 
that the initiated are slow to comprehend is no surprise. 

To the patriot Job, the servant of God, at one time the 
resurrection was an unsolved problem, and only by study- 
ing the law of growth was he able to arrive at a solution. 
In the darkness that surrounded him he began to draw a 
comparison between man and a tree, in which he discerned 
the principle of growth. Strange as it may seem, when 
man is confronted with a mystery he invariably seeks a 
corresponding mystery in order to arrive at a solution ; yet, 
after all, it is the only proper manner of solving the mys- 
terious. The school that Job was attending had passed the 
simpler problems of life; the student had mastered these 
successfully, to the credit of himself and his master. Life 
along that simpler line had been met,- with its complexities, 
and solved to the satisfaction of God, who, in response to 
the presence of Satan, said, ^'Hast thou considered My 
servant Job, that there is none like him in all the earth P"^ 

Whatever instruction and knowledge are to be gathered 
from the Book of Job, there are three things which present 
themselves very forcibly to the mind at the outset. First, 
adversity is the school at which we learn the deeper things 
of life, not prosperity. Second, there are no temptations 
that Satan, the flesh, or the world, can present, that God 
is not able to deliver us from, if* we put our trust in Him. 
Third, it is only when we lose sight of the earthly that our 
vision is opened so that we are enabled to discern the 
heavenly. There is no part of the sacred history that more 
forcibly teaches these principles than the Book of Job. In 

2Jobi,8. 



39G "Ammi— My People/' 

the midst of prosperity came adversity, gaining force and 
power until the last vestige was gone, upon which the hopes 
and pleasures of life were built. Eeversion after reversion, 
closer and closer came the devouring flame, and, as by the 
breaking of a cord, all was lost, and, standing in the 
desert of affliction, apparently forgotten by all. He ex- 
claimed, "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and 
naked shall I return thither; the Lord gave, and the Lord 
has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord/'^ This 
was the first lesson with adversity as the teacher; it was 
presented to Job, and he mastered it. 

As there are but two sides of life, the school of afflic- 
tion has but two lessons for us to master : the outward and 
the inward, the visible and the invisible. The things with- 
out, we may master; but what of those that are within? 
And this is the basis of the second lesson that was pre- 
sented to Job, when Satan was permitted to touch his body. 
By this means the inward faculties of the man were 
reached: it was a blow to the temple, and the spirit felt 
the shock. Time is kind to us, in one respect at least; she 
offers us the easy lessons first, and afterward those that are 
difficult. In this way Job was favored. The second les- 
son was infinitely more complex than the first. That, upon 
the impulse of the moment, the man of TJz decides an 
affirmative answer to this question is certain : *^Ts there not 
an appointed time for man upon the earth? Are not his 
days also as the days of an hireling?" And upon further 
meditation he declares that his "life is wind, and his eyes 
shall no more see good." 

Here is the universal conclusion: in adversity our eyes 
can see only the things that are passing, and we have no 
prospect beyond the objects of time and sense. This was 
the first impression received by Job in his second lesson. 
How many have gone thus far, and, from the seeming 
emptiness before them, have played truant! Not so with 



I Job i, 21. 



The Eesurrection. 397 

Job ; he seems to have been the instrument of fate to deter- 
mine the strength of opposite forces striving for his mas- 
tery. This is the school of intensity. Quality, and not 
quantity, is the supreme test. As the lesson continues, it 
grows in intensity, and, reflecting on what life had been, 
in the fullness and beauty in which he had lived it, and now 
realizing to what it might be reduced, the thought occurred 
to this servant of God, "If a man die, shall he live again?" 
Seeing that he had entered the world naked, and was des- 
tined to return as he came, and that beyond the present 
all was dark, with the grave awaiting him, he thoughtfully 
compared the life of man with the life of a tree, and gave 
the tree the pre-eminence. Thus raged the conflict within 
and without. As there is a time in all conflicts when the 
contending forces seem to be resting upon their arms for 
a more determined attack, so was it with Job. jSTo doubt 
in his meditations he had gathered a little strength, and 
with that came a ray of light; slowly but surely it illumin- 
ated his mind ; "Is this all of life ? Shall a thing so real 
as life has been to him become so empty of good in the 
closing? Shall the mantle of clay forever hold, as in fet- 
ters, a thing as subtle as the mind? May it not be that 
this is not the end?" But in the question, ''Shall a man 
live again f thousands have followed Job's lead, and close 
upon the hour of death has this thought distracted the 
minds of the living. 

By comparing the last expression of Job with those that 
preceded it, we find th*em separated by the most rigid lines. 
At first all was dark ; nakedness was his beginning, and so 
would be the end. That there was an appointed time for 
man upon the earth. Job saw and felt ; but further he could 
not go, — "I shall no more see good." But at length there 
was a change. With what earnestness of thought and feel- 
ing must the question have arisen in his mind, "Shall a 
man live again?" The thought itself foreshows a ray of 
light ; and as we follow this student through the solution of 



398 "Ammi— My People." 

the problem of all problems with the searchlight that has 
been given ns through the Son of God^, we see the faint 
glimmer of the coming dawn serenely breaking npon the 
mind of Job. 

Again^ renewed, he enters the conflict. Spurred by 
the accusations of those who had come to offer comfort, 
and by them driven to the solitude of his own meditations, 
he, as one alone in battle, looks around to see if there be 
any help. Summing up the words of those who had come 
to him, he makes answer as the darkness seems to settle 
the more heavily around him, and breaks forth, "How long 
will ye vex my soul and break me to pieces with your 
words? These ten times have ye reproached me.'' He 
measures thjeir words, and declares: "If I have erred, my 
error remaineth with myself. My God has stripped me of 
everything. My brethren are gone; my kinsfolk have 
failed me; my friends have forgotten me; I am an alien 
in the sight of my servants; my breath is strange to my 
wife ; young and old abhor me, and God has forsaken me." 
This is the depth of the darkness which surrounded the 
servant of God before the light came. It is when darkness 
is at the worst that light comes; and as the glory of the 
light of truth burst upon the mind of Job, he broke forth 
in one of the most comforting expressions that can lighten 
the mind of man: "0 that my words were now written! 

that they were printed in a book ; that they were graven 
with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever; for I know 
that my Eedeemer liveth, and that He shall stand in the 
latter day upon the earth : and though after my skin worms 
destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom 

1 shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not 
another ; though my reins be consumed within me." 

History informs us that the ancient Hebrews would 
not allow their children to read the Book of Job until they 
arrived at mature age, considering that its contents were of 
such a nature that the untried mind could not grasp them, 



The Eesurrection. 399 

in the end prodncing confusion. (It would be a blessed 
thing if the parents of the present day would exercise more 
care in selecting the material for their children to read. 
Still when we estimate the immeasurable amount of in- 
jurious literature within reach of our children, we find 
ourselves all but helpless. Manj^ however, are too indiffer- 
ent concerning this giant evil.) 

When we consider the history of Job, as he is briefly 
introduced to us; the parties connected with the circum- 
stances; the principle contained in the controversy; the 
final result ending in a victory over Satan and the flesh; 
and the blessed closing of the life so divinely begun, — we 
are lost in wonder at the" lesson suggested by the narrative. 
^Yhile we may not be able to arrange the constituent parts 
so as to bring out the full force of the narrative, this much 
"appears plain upon the surface: The lesson suggested, 
when considered in its true light, bears an intimate rela- 
tion to the scene in which Jesus, the servant of God, enters 
the conflict with Satan and the powers of hell for the vic- 
tory over Hades and the release of the souls that were held 
captive by him who had the power of death, spiritual 
death. 

From the time it was said in the morning of life, "The 
seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head," the 
Father of mercies has continually kept before the mind of 
His servants the sacredness of that promise. Though hid- 
den behind a glass that was somewhat darkened, there could 
still be seen the dim but certain outlines of the cross, by 
Avhich Job was enabled to "know that his Eedeemer lived, 
and should stand in the latter day upon the earth." 

It is not definitely known at what age of the world Job 
lived. Students of sacred history are divided on the ques- 
tion ; and as we have nothing positive to offer, we shall con- 
tent ourselves with what the Scriptures give. There is, 
however, in the prophecy of Ezekiel a reference to Job, in 
which he is associated with Noah and Daniel. In the mind 



400 "Ammi— My People/' 

of the writer, Job antedated the flood, and our reasons are 
as follows. The sacred history is divided into three divi- 
sions of two thousand years each ; from Adam until Noah, 
from Noah until Christ. The last two thousand years, 
called the Gospel Dispensation, is the fullness of God's 
grace to the race of men. When this fullness is accom- 
plished, mercy is done, and justice will then be supreme. 
In the intermediate period, during the life of Abraham, 
we have a striking lesson in which is taught the principle of 
the resurrection. The offering of Isaac upon Mount 
Horeb as a sacrifice was an impressive type of the cross 
and the resurrection also. In the mind of Abraham, Isaac's 
sacrifice was complete. Abraham had determined that the 
command of God must be obeyed. The test was a severe 
one. In all its features it was a perfect symbol of the 
offering of the Son of God. One thing, no doubt, was a 
strong support to Abraham, — behind all, fixed and secure, 
was the fact of the resurrection : "Accounting that God 
was able to raise him up even from the dead ; from whence 
also he received him in a figure." 

It is not thought that the first two thousand years 
passed without an evidence of the victory that would 
eventually be gained over the enemy of souls; and, consid- 
ering the manner in which the patriarch is introduced to 
us ; the circumstances in all their bearings ; the direct refer- 
ence to the sons of God — a title which, in the manner of 
its use, seems to be appropriate to that age of the world ; 
the emphasis upholding the family institution, — all com- 
bine to weld a chain of thought that tends to confirm the 
above conclusion. This being admitted, we are enabled 
at a glance to witness the faithfulness of God to His prom- 
ise, and the wisdom of leaving to the sons of men an evi- 
dence of the same: of which the history of Job gives a 
most impressive lesson. 

So important is the idea of the resurrection, that few 
of the prophets have failed to speak of it. To the prophet 



The Resurrection. 401 

Ezekiel was portrayed, in a vision, the resurrection of the 
whole house of Israel. Daniel says, "Many shall sleep in 
the dust of the earth, and awake." Hosea, in emphatic 
language, declares that death and the grave shall be ban- 
ished. His words are, "0 death, I will be thy plague; 
grave, I will be thy destruction I" And thus at last, by the 
guidance of the God of heaven, He came who was able to 
break the seal and let the prisoners free; as the prophet had 
said, "To them who sat in the valley and shadow of death, 
light sprung up." To be able to raise the dead was one 
of the strongest evidences that Christ gave of His super- 
human or divine power. This seems to have been the ex- 
treme test to satisfy those who believed in Him. Of such 
worth did Christ consider this knowledge of His power to 
those who would believe in Him, that He even taught its 
efficiency to be so complete that "Those who would live and 
believe in Him should never die.'^ Not that they should 
never come to the grave; but the grave should not be a 
means of separating them from^God. 

Previous to the resurrection of Christ, not only was 
natural death universal, but spiritual death as well ; other- 
wise the words of Christ, "He shall never die," have no 
meaning. It is not so much the hope of resurrection that 
gives us comfort as the hope of resurrection through the 
fellowship of Christ. Paul's estimate was, "If in this life 
only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most mis- 
erable." While Job and Abraham were enabled to know 
the resurrection as an established fact, and all the prophets, 
with the holy men in former ages, looked forward to it,, 
it remained for Christ to demonstrate its reality in the 
power and glory which He alone could give it. 

The principle having now been established, through the 
power which is given by the Spirit, we will next speak of 
the manner in which the dead are raised. The question, 
"How are the dead raised up ? and with what body do they 
come forth?" has engaged the nations since the days of 
26 



402 "Ammi — My People/' 

Paul, and seems to be growing in complexity as darkness 
and unbelief envelop the minds of the people. 

First, it is necessary to remark that the resurrection of 
the human race, as taught by the Scriptures, is divided into 
three parts. While the Eevelator John speaks of but two 
resurrections, there are, in connection with that statement, 
several circumstances that demand our attention in trac- 
ing the matter in hand. Those whom Christ and the apos- 
tles raised before the resurrection of Christ Himself, are 
not regarded as subjects of a resurrection, from the fact 
that they died the natural death again. Christ is said to 
be the iirstfruits of the resurrection; and those who arose 
when Christ came forth, will also be a part of the first 
resurrection, as they must have come forth in an earthly 
body, else those who were living upon the earth at the time 
could not have seen them. 

Again, the object was to evidence the power of Christ 
to liberate the spirits of those who had died, and this could 
not be done to the knowledge of the living, but through 
the material body of the departed. And, further, as Christ 
came forth in the same body in which he was seen among 
the living, so likewise did those who came forth at His 
resurrection. In regard to the number that came forth, 
this is to be inferred from the facts that are implied and 
not expressed. The word many must be accepted, in mean- 
ing, as it stands connected with the circumstance in which 
it is found. One of the first expressions in which it is 
found is: "Thou shalt be a father of many nations;" 
•Joseph had a coat of many colors; "Many shall sleep in 
the dust of the earth." When God summons witnesses, He 
follows the counsel of His own will ; and as this was a case 
of proving the sufficiency of Christ's power we leave the 
matter at this point. 

In regard to the "first resurrection," we can do no bet- 
ter than quote from the language of Paul : "For the Tjoyc] 
Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout^ with the 



The Eesureection. 403 

voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and 
the dead in Christ shall be raised first/^ "Even so them 
also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." In the 
Book of Eevelation we read, "And they lived and reigned 
with Christ a thousand years." 

The question that agitates the minds of some is, "Who 
are included in the number that will reign with Christ; 
and where will that reign be?" Nothing could be more 
plainly taught in the Book of Truth than that all who have 
lived and died faithful to the Word of God, in all ages, 
will compose that number. Those who lived faithful un- 
der the law received the blessings of the Gospel when it 
came; those who have lived faithful to the Gospel as de- 
livered unto them have fallen asleep in Jesus; and these, 
Paul sa3^s, "Christ will bring with Him." It seems all but 
useless to raise the question as to where that reign will be. 
In the many prophecies that refer to the gathering of the 
house of Israel, and the inhabitants of their own country, 
with allotted portions as of old, the reference to the condi- 
tion of the earth during the peaceful millennial period, 
and the positive location of that reign by the psalmist, "The 
righteous shall inherit the earth and delight themselves in 
the abundance of peace;" as also the words of the Eeve- 
later, "And hast made us kings and priests : and we shall 
reign on the earth," — these, and many more like passages 
that could be referred to, settle the matter beyond any 
room for controversy. 

The fifth verse of the tAventieth chapter of Eevelation, 
being wanting in many of the ancient manuscripts, has 
caused a number of minds to conclude that there will be 
but one resurrection. The verse reads, "(But the rest of the 
dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. 
This is the first resurrection.)" Should it be that the above 
parenthetical passage was not included in the prophecy, 
there need be no change in the meaning; the first part of 
the chapter certainly fixes the time, and when it will begin, 



404 "Ammi— My People/' 

and when it will end; the closing part of the same chapter 
qualifies the fact of a second resurrection. 

In the sixth verse of the chapter referred to we read, 
"Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resur- 
rection : on such the second death hath no power, but they 
shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with 
Him a thousand years." That there will be a first and a 
second resurrection, and that they will be at least a thou- 
sand years apart, is as plainly foretold as that there will 
be a thousand years of peaceful reign of Christ and His 
saints upon the earth. The one could not in any sense 
exist without the other ; to reject one is to deny the other ; 
and that means to oppose revelation. 

It is feared that even the people of God do not compre- 
hend the full meaning contained in the blessings that are 
promised to those who will be permitted to enjoy the glo- 
rious reign of peace and righteousness. If purity and holi- 
ness is the standard, what less can those do who will enjoy 
it than practice now? When the glory of Christ and His 
righteousness shall fill the whole earth, and equity and 
justice be meted out to all, even to the beasts of the field, 
^'when none shall hurt or make afraid in all my holy moun- 
tain," shall he who will not practice these principles now, 
be worthy to enjoy that reign ? May it not be that we build 
too largely upon hope and promise, and become indifferent 
about laying the foundation upon which those things rest? 
Since the kingdom of Christ, which will be upon this lit- 
eral earth, and measured by the same standard of time 
that has counted the years since creation began, and the 
substance upon which the inhabitants of the earth will sub- 
sist will be temporal and earthly, it follows that the bodies 
in which the saints will be raised are not "immortal" in 
the full sense of that word. That there will be three classes 
of peoples upon the earth during the thousand years of 
Christ's reign, is sustained by the Scriptures. 

First, Christ and His saints will compose the governing 



The Resurrection-. 405 

power ; this is evidenced by the following Scriptures : "And 
judgment was given to the saints of the Most High." "And 
he that overcometh, and keepeth My works unto the end, 
to him will I give power over the nations." "Do you not 
know that the saints shall judge the world ?" The second 
class will be composed of the whole house of Israel that had 
not been faithful to either covenant, Old or New Testa- 
ment, in tlie day in which they were delivered unto them. 
So few of tliose who claim to accept the Scriptures as divine 
revelation understand the glorious promises awaiting that 
chosen people during the millennial age, that special at- 
tention is given to the subject here. 

That God will gather His people and place them in the 
land which He promised to them in the days of their 
fathers is positively declared in the words of the prophets. 
"Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel, to the robbers? did 
not the Lord, He against whom we have sinned? for they 
v/ould not walk in His ways, neither were they obedient 
unto His law. Therefore He hath poured upon him the 
fury of His anger, and the strength of battle : and it hath 
set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it 
burned him, yet he laid it not to heart. But now thus 
saith the Lord that created thee, Jacob, and he that 
formed thee, Israel, Fear not : for I have redeemed thee, 
I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. . . . 
T'or I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy 
Savior. . . . Since thou wast precious in My sight, 
thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee : therefore 
will I give men for thee, and people for thy life. Fear not : 
for I am with thee : I will bring thy seed from the east, 
and gather thee from, the west: I will say to the north. 
Give up ; and to the south. Keep not back ; bring my sons 
from afar, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; 
every one that is called by My name: for I have created 
him for My glory, I have formed him : yea I have made 
him."* "For I will take you from among the heathen, and 

4 Isa. xlii, 24, 25; xUii, 1-6. 



406 "Ammi— My People/' 

gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your 
own land/^ 

For the sake of brevity, we have quoted a few of the 
passages that treat upon the gathering of the house of 
Israel in the day when Christ shall come to redeem the 
chosen people of God, as was promised them in the days of 
their fathers. The reader can easily find those that are 
here omitted by referring to the references from those 
quoted in the marginal Bible. That the whole house of 
Israel is included in these promises, is assured in the fol- 
lowing passages: "Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, 
My people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come 
up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of 
Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I 
have opened your graves, My people, and brought you up 
out of your graves. And I will put My Spirit in you, and 
ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land : then 
sliall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and per- 
formed it, saith the Lord."^ Nothing can be more posi- 
tively foretold by the Word of the Lord than that the whole 
house of Israel, the living and those who have died, in all 
the ages past, and in every place whither they have been 
scattered, shall come forth, and enjoy the blessings of that 
glorious reign of Christ upon the earth. 

Some incline to the opinion that it will include only 
the faithful of the Jewish people. This can be shown to be 
far short of fulfilling the promise. In order to prove that 
the unfaithful will be also brought forth, we quote from 
the prophet Ezekiel the following : "Behold, I will take the 
children of Israel, from among the heathen whither they 
be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them 
into their own land : and will make them one nation in the 
land upon the mountains of Israel. Neither shall they 
defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their 
detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; 



6 Ezek. xxxvii, 12-14. 



The Resurrection. 407 

bnt I will save them out of all their dwelling places, 
\\'herein they have sinned, and wilj cleanse them: so shall 
they be My people, and I will be their God/'® In this 
Scripture is included all those who had sinned, and all who 
bad transgressed, and God has said He will cleanse them 
in that day when He will gather them. This, evidently, 
can not mean those who had never worshiped idols or de- 
testable things; those who were faithful will reign over 
these, with Christ and His saints. Further it is declared 
they shall inhabit their land as of old; "And they shall 
dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob My servant, 
wherein your fathers have dwelt, and they shall dwell 
therein, even 'they, and their children, and their children's 
children, forever: and David My servant, shall be their 
prince forever.^' These Scriptures prove as forcibly as 
anything can be proven by revelation, that all Israel shall 
bo saved, as Paul declared in his day. And, further, this 
apostle understood that that saving would include a resur- 
rection, as His words express : "For if the casting away of 
them [the Jews] be the reconciling of the world, what 
shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead ?"'' 

It is thought needless to offer any further comment 
upon these Scriptures; they are plain, and express a 
thought that is concrete and finished ; nor can they be con- 
strued to have any other meaning ; if this is not the place 
for them, there can be no place found for them. Many 
more passages could be offered upon the same point; but 
for the sake of brevity they are omitted. The reader's at- 
tention is again called to the references connected with 
them. It was because of these plain and express promises 
that God had given to the house of Israel, through His 
prophets, concerning the glorious reign of Israel upon the 
earth, and their supremacy above all others in that reign, 
that their fulfillment was expected when the Messiah 
should come. 



6 Ezek. xxxvii, 21-28. 7 Rom. xi, 15. 



408 "Ammi— My People/' 

In carefully studying the many prophecies relating to 
the blessedness that a^^its that people, and the force and 
clearness with which the prophecies are expressed; the in- 
timate relation which Jehovah, their God, has always de- 
clared existed between Him and them; the Fatherly care 
and concern that God has ever exercised over them, with 
the avowed assurance that eventually the glory of Jacob 
would fill the earth, — we are led to see one of the main 
reasons why they rejected the Child of Bethlehem as their 
King. Not that they had a lawful cause, nor that the 
prophecies were all one-sided, — the manner of the Mes- 
siah's coming, and their treatment of Him, as also the 
cruel death they would inflict upon Him, were as plainly 
foretold as the promises of their future glory. Through 
the breaking of the law of God they became corrupt in all 
their associations, socially and religiously, and were deaf 
and blind to the true meaning and interpretation of the 
law and the prophets; a result that will as surely follow 
every people so erring, as day follows night. In the self- 
righteousness of their vain religion, the Jews were led to 
great boldness in claiming all the promises that God had 
given them by way of blessing, but failed utterly to see the 
curse that rested upon them for their apostasy from God. 
Had they been as wise as they were zealous, they might 
readily have discovered that they were in no condition to 
enjoy the promises at that time, even if God should have 
bestowed them. All that Heaven has promised that people 
they will receive, whether it be blessings or cursings, and 
each and all may rely upon the conditions prepared for 
them. 

For almost two thousand 3^ears the hand of Jehovah, 
and ever}^ other hand, has been against the house of Jacob, 
and erelong the God of Zion will say, "It is enough." As 
the destro}dng angel, who stretched out his hand over 
Jerusalem, was told, "It is enough: stay now thy hand," 
so will the hand of persecution be again stayed from de- 



The Eesurrection* 409 

vouring the seed of Abraham. Nothing in the revelation 
from Heaven so fully explains the character of God and 
His justice toward the sons of men as the history and 
prophecy concerning that people and nation. The law is 
not only "a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ/' but also 
an indispensable means of revealing Christ. It is the key 
that will unlock every secret contained in the Gospel, while 
the Gospel proves the divinity of the key. The Gentile na- 
tion, which is looking for the blessings that are to cover the 
earth, to come while the earth is invested by the present 
corrupt religion, — whose only zeal is in "putting darkness 
for light, and light for darkness," — ^will be as disastrously 
disappointed as were the Jews concerning the time when 
they should enjoy their own land in peace. That the bless- 
ings which God has promised to both Jew and Gentile will 
indeed be enjo3^ed, is as certain as the throne of God is in 
heaven; but neither will be permitted to partake of those 
blessings until men fear God and work righteousness upon 
the earth. 

That there will be a destruction of the Gentile nation 
before the arrival of the dispensation of righteousness upon 
the earth, is as plainly foretold as that there will be a sec- 
ond coming of Christ. N"evertheless, there will remain a 
remnant of the Gentiles that will not be destroyed in the 
great battle which Gog and Magog will wage against the 
house of Israel when its people are gathered in their own 
land. The prophet Zechariah speaks of a third part that 
shall be left and not be destroyed. From the language 
used, we reasonably conclude it will be "the little ones" 
that will not perish with the army that will be arrayed 
against God's people. 

As there was a remnant of Israel left when their city 
and nation were destroyed, so shall there be a remnant of 
Gentiles left that will not be consumed in that great bat- 
tie. These will form the third part that will inhabit the 
earth during the millennial period. It has been previously 



410 ''Ammi— My People/' 

stated that the saints will not be resurrected in a wholly 
immortal bod_y; a further reason will now be given why 
this should be. Apart from the faithful^ the whole house of 
Israel and a third part of the Gentiles will live upon the 
earth, and multiply rapidly during those thousand years. 
They will till the ground, and gather the harvests, and 
tend their herds and flocks, as is now done; only there 
will be no sin and no harm come to them or their labors. 
In short, the whole earth will be then as God had created 
it, yet withal it will be mortal, subject to the imperfections 
of time ; and, by the decree of God, immortality and mor- 
tality can not dwell together. Immortality is endless ; not 
measured by time; not subject to separation; hence can not 
be altogether the state of man during that dispensation. 
The period when immortality proper shall be the inherit- 
ance of the saints is when they shall appear with their 
Lord before the throne of God in heaven. They will then 
have arrived at the morning of eternity; an endless life, 
because of endless environment; no change will ever more 
disturb them. They will then be in the eternal presence 
of immortalitA^ and nothing but immortality can dwell 
there ; nor can immortality dwell on this side of that place. 
They will then be with Him who only hath immortality, 
dwelling in the light that no man can approach, whom no 
man hath seen, or can see. 

The last resurrection will take place at the closing scene 
of this earth's existence. Judgment will shortl}" follow; 
after which a baptism of fire will be the only means by 
which any further product from this earth shall be brought 
to maturity. That there will be two classes of persons in 
the last resurrection is assured by the words of Christ Him- 
self. In the fifth chapter of John's record we read the 
following : "Marvel not at this : for the hour is coming in 
which all that are in their graves shall hear His voice, and 
shall come forth ; they that have done good, unto the resur- 
rection of life ; and they that have done evil, unto the resur- 



The Eesurrection. 411 

rection of damnation/' And in the book of the prophet 
Daniel is found the same expression : "And many of them 
that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to 
everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting con- 
tempt/' The first and the last resurrections are at least 
one thousand years apart ; and since all the saints had come 
forth in the first resurrection it follows of necessity, there 
will be some who will come up justified in the last. 

It is strange that so few professing people have been 
able to reconcile this Scripture with their understanding; 
or, more properly speaking, have been able to reconcile 
their understanding with this Scripture. It is because so 
many undertake to reconcile the Scriptures with their 
opinion, instead of reconciling their opinion with the Scrip- 
ture, that the Scriptures are wrongly interpreted. The 
passage referred to is not in any way figurative; neither 
is it symbolical: it expresses a plain fact, in plain terms; 
and so places the time that there can be no misunderstand- 
ing. It is the last resurrection referred to, or the words of 
Christ have no meaning: "All that are in their graves 
shall come forth," and some "to everlasting life.'' An- 
other fact is, they have missed the one thousand years of 
Christ's glorious kingdom upon the earth. The next con- 
sideration in this connection is that they come up at the 
end of the period in the last resurrection approved. 

The question now arises, Who were these people ? what 
were their relations to the Church during their lifetime? 
and upon what does the merit of justification rest? By 
turning to the twenty-fifth, chapter of Matthew we read 
the following: "When the Son of man shall come in His 
glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit 
upon the throne of His glory: and before Him shall be 
gathered all nations ; and He shall separate them one from 
the other, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats : 
and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats 
on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on His 



412 "Ammi— My People/' 

right hand. Come ye blessed of My Jather, inherit the 
kingdom prepared for yon from the foundation of the 
world : for I was an hungered, and ye gave Me meat ; I was 
thirsty, and ye gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and ye 
took Me in; naked, and ye clothed Me; I was sick, and ye 
visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto Me. Then 
shall the righteous answer Him, saying. When saw we Thee 
an hungered, and fed Thee? or thirsty, and gave Thee 
drink? When saw we Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? 
or naked, and clothed Thee ? or when saw we Thee sick, or 
in prison, and came unto Thee? And the King shall 
answer and say unto them. Verily I sa}^ unto you. Inas- 
much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My 
brethren, ye have done it unto Me." 

In our effort to locate this class, several thoughts enter 
the mind. The first is, they could not have been professors 
of religion, for the reason that they were not looking for 
or expecting what they received; on the other hand, al- 
most all those who profess the Christian religion are ex- 
pecting, possibly, more than they will receive. Secondly, 
they were not enemies of the Church, but friends ; and upon 
their friendship for the Church was based the cause of their 
justification. In answer to the question as to why they 
were to receive this unexpected approval, the answer is, 
"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these 
My brethren, ye have done it unto Me." 

The fact that we have such characters, and that there 
have always been those who, in all ages, have been willing 
to help the cause of God and His people, proves the justice 
of God in dealing with men upon the merits of their works. 

When we consider the manner in which God rewarded 
those who offered a helping hand in order that His cause 
might prosper, even in this life, we can readily comprehend 
the consistency of the conclusion that He will be equally 
kind in the great day of reckoning. In the days of Israel, 
when the spies were sent across Jordan to bring a report 



The Eesurrection. 413 

of the land, .a woman whose name was Eahab, though a 
harlot, protected God's servants, and afterwards became 
the great-grandmother of Boaz, who was the father of 
Obed, who was the father of Jesse, who was the father of 
King David. Euth the Moabitess, who left her own people, 
and cast her lot with the chosen of God, became the wife of 
Eoaz. While Nicodemns had said to Jesus, "We know 
Thou art a Teacher come from God," and helped to take 
down the body of Christ from the cross and lay it in the 
sepulcher, we have no further account of his associating 
with the followers of the Lord; yet who shall say he will 
not receive his reward? There are those around us even 
now, — we meet them wherever we go, — who, while they 
are not members of the Church, are always its friends, and 
willing to assist it when assistance is needed. 

The only sin that can be laid to their charge is the sin 
of omission; nor shall they escape judgment; "For how 
shall they escape who neglect ?'' Yet the power of the 
"second death" upon such sinners is limited to one thou- 
sand years. Herein is knowledge which contains a most 
solemn warning to all men who neglect the duty of the 
present day of salvation. A life shut off from God and 
His people, and all the blessings which go to make life 
worth living, even now, is but a living death. The few 
days and months of those who spend their time in prison 
seems to them an age, when the laws of man have de- 
manded justice. But who can measure the state of that 
soul which, for a thousand years, is turned away from God 
and all that God has given to man in order that life should 
be filled with good? If the sin of omission requires one 
thousand years for remission, and to reconcile man to his 
Maker, let those who commit the sin of commission think 
of this before they further increase the debt. 

If life in this world, amidst sin and wickedness in all 
the forms that the mind of Satan and evil spirits can in- 
vent, is still sweet, what must be the unspeakable pleasures 



4:14: ^'Ammi — My People/' 

that will surround those who are permitted to live during 
tJie coming ages with Christ? If Moses^ the servant of God, 
"was justified in choosing affliction with the peoj^le of God, 
rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, should 
we not be equally wise ? Better by far is it to endure the 
afflictions that sinners may offer than to fall under the 
righteous judgment of God. Paul, when considering the 
comparison of this present life with the one to come, says, 
"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worl^- 
eth for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of 
glovj." The psalmist David, in his comparison of the life 
of the man who would serve God with that of the one who 
would not, says : "For a day in Thy courts is better than 
a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of 
my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness." 

Such is the testimony of men whom God approved ; men 
who were willing to deny themselves of the pleasures of 
sin and the friendship of the world in its rebellion against 
God and His Word; and who, by so doing, left to those 
who follow after an example of the life which God will 
accept. "But the fearful and unbelieving, and the abom- 
inable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, 
and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake 
which burneth with fire and brimstone : this is the second 
death/' 



UNIVERSAL EESTORATION. 

The more virtue there is in a principle, the more gen- 
eral is the abnse of that principle. To know how to use 
the things of this world, as not abusing them, is the secret 
of enjoying the blessings of life in the way and manner 
designed by Him who gave them. Not until we acquire 
the knowledge of the design of a gift can we rightly ap- 
preciate the gift. The history of man abounds with evi- 
dence that proves his failure to acquire this knowledge. 
By the abuse of liberty men have become slaves in all ages. 
Following the example that was set by the first pair in 
the morning of life, the entire human family has missed 
the design of God b}^ abusing that which was intended for 
a blessing. 

In the acquisition of knowledge man lost his innocence ; 
and only in this way can he ever regain it. Ignorance does 
not antagonize innocence until a certain point is reached 
beyond which the contest begins. How much knowledge 
man acquired in the first transgression, we know not. But 
the fact remains, whether he gained much or little by that 
transgression, he lost his innocence, which caused his sep- 
aration from God. "A little learning is a dangerous thing," 
but more learning will Tcmove the danger. If the doctrine 
of restoration be not a possibility, then man can never re- 
claim his innocence. And if the sacrifice of Christ be not 
a sufficient plan through which the human race can be re- 
stored to God, the design of the Creator can never be ac- 
complished. "For Thy pleasure they are and were 
created."^ 

If, then, the creature can confute the design of the 

1 Rev. iv, 11. 

415 



416 "Ammi— My People/' 

Creator, a part becomes greater than the whole. In no 
principle with which men have to deal is the application of 
law more general than in the salvation of the human race. 
The question is not, however, upon the possibility of re- 
storing man into fellowship with God in an individual 
sense ; this is accepted by all believers ; but is the principle 
universal? This is the issue; and as it is the issue, both 
sides have gone to extremes to maintain each his own posi- 
tion. Nor is this manner of defense uncommon when we 
take extreme grounds. It often happens that the manner 
of defense does more toward separating disputants than 
the principle in dispute. Because of such misuse of de- 
bate, and the absurd manner in which many of the advo- 
cates of the doctrine of sanctification present their views, 
thousands have gone to the other extreme in abuse, and, 
by so doing, have injured a true principle of grace. To 
reject a thing upon the ground that it is abused, is an 
error ; and to claim more for a factor than It contains, is 
slso wrong. In our searching for light, this doctrine has 
presented itself, and the abuse noted upon both sides is 
the occasion for this paper. 

Starting with the fact that restoring man to God can 
only be brought about by reclaiming his innocence, and 
that virtue lies in the sacrifice for that purpose, it then 
follows that the sacrificial victim must of necessity be 
innocent. This the Scriptures confirm : "The Just died 
for the unjust, that He might bring us to God V'^ If, then, 
the virtue and power of the sacrifice lies in the innocence 
of the Victim, all who are partakers at the altar receive 
the same virtue when they have made the same sacrifice. 
This can be the only interpretation of any religion built 
upon sacrifice; for this cause it was said, "God was in 
Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing 
unto them their trespasses.^^ 

The trespasses referred to in the above text can only 



2 1 Pet. ni, 18, 



Universal Restoration. 417 

raean those of a passive nature; to include those of an act- 
ive kind would be to ignore responsibility, which is 
against reason and justice. By attempting to maintain 
tliis unreasonable position, many have fallen into serious 
mistakes. Those who undertake to establish the position 
rob the cross of its true meaning, and count the blood of 
Christ as an unnecessary offering. Setting at naught the 
doctrine of regeneration, as also the doctrine of the resur- 
rection; arraying themselves in opposition to many well- 
defined truths immovably settled in the inspired volume; 
teaching absurdities of their own invention; devising con- 
clusions to suit their imaginative fancies, — they have so 
mixed truth with error that their entire system of ethics 
has become a stock of vanities. When men attempt to 
wrest the Scriptures from their intended meaning, and 
assume to determine a principle in conflict with Eevela- 
tion, they ignore the guidance of the Spirit; and having 
nothing left but their own imaginations to direct them, 
they blindly fall into confusion and folly. Others, dis- 
cerning the danger in such extremes, have gone too far in 
the opposite direction, claiming that the doctrine of resto- 
ration in substance is utterly opposed to the teaching of the 
Scriptures, and that those who accept it are following in 
the steps of heathen philosophers. There is still another 
class who seem to have found an intermediate ground, 
which to them seems to be at least tenable ; but they also, 
in man}^ instances, have abused the principle through a 
wrong conception of it; and confusion in many cases has 
been the fruit of their labors. 

Believing still that the doctrine of restoration is of 
Divine appointment, and aside from that, "No man 
shall see the Lord,^' it is also further accepted that it is 
"universal," but only along well-defined lines marked out 
by the Word of God. By accepting the doctrine as being 
in keeping with inspiration, it is at once recognized as 
sacred and inseparably connected with the eternal design 
27 



418 "Ammi — My People/' 

of the Creator. Should this position be found true, it can 
only be so when supported by certain incontrovertible facts 
in perfect harmony with revelation ; which is as much as to 
say, the Word of God sustains it. 

As no proposition should be accepted in stronger terms 
than the evidence upon which it rests, and since nothing 
that is not based upon certain immovable grounds is worthy 
of the time it takes to controvert it, the following proposi- 
tions are offered as a basis for this defense : 

Proposition I. Everything that had a beginning must 
have an end. 

Proposition II. The mission of Christ was to destroy 
the works of the devil; and since God knows no defeat, 
that mission can not be complete until "God is All and in 
all.^^ 

Proposition III. If the creature, by partaking of the 
Divine nature, becomes kind and forgiving, the Creator, 
who is perfect in the same attribute, must in the same pro- 
portion be forgiving. 

Proposition IV. Since God is eternal, it becomes im- 
possible for the creature, who is mortal, to institute a prin- 
ciple that could remain eternally in conflict with God. 

Proposition V. In no way could God have shown more . 
wisdom and love than in giving man freedom to act for 
himself; and, after having sown the seeds of misery and 
despair, permitting him to reap the harvest; and then re- 
quiring a recompense at his hands, and finally through the 
principle of love, restoring him again to fellowship. 

Upon the first proposition, this much can be said first : 
It is immaterial to our investigation when that Beginning 
began: the fact that a thing had a beginning is sufficient 
proof that it could not be eternal. That which is without 
beginning and without end, is the only conception that the 
finite mind can have of eternity ; and that is but faint. We 
seem to apprehend the efficacy of the Word through the 
meaning that has been attached to it. Nor could even this 



Universal Eestoration. 419 

be of any real value to us were it not for the comparison 
we are able to make between the things that are perishing 
and passing and the things that seem to be unchangeable. 
Through this means alone are we enabled to grasp^, as it 
were, a faint image of the thing. We see, and 3'et we see 
not. We hear, and still there is no sound. We compre- 
hend, but so small is our comprehension that we can not 
explain. The glass is darkened. Thab which we are asked 
to believe has come to us by a revelation : a voice from the 
Infinite to the finite. As far as the finite is able to com- 
prehend, to that extent individual responsibility is a just 
demand, as shown by the law that the wisdom of God com- 
mitted to man. 

^'Tvnow thyself,^^ was the wisest saying of the wisest 
heathen philosopher of antiquity. "Our origin necessarily 
engrosses the first page of self-knowledge, and here the 
Scriptures begin.^^ "In the beginning, God created the 
heavens and the earth,^' and the concluding work of that 
beginning found man upon the earth, bearing the image of 
Him who created him, with a law by which he was to live 
or die. Whatever man has ever known, or ever will know, 
of his origin, is contained in the history of his beginning. 
The speculations of men have not yet robbed the race of 
that fact, though they have been making the attempt since 
the days of Celsus. Accepting the revelation from heaven 
as the origin of our existence, — and aside from that we 
have no authorit}^, — shall not the same revelation reveal 
the closing page of man's history? If we build upon the 
one, we can not reject the other. From this conclusion 
there can be no appeal, if harmony is to be our guide. Nor 
is there any room for speculations upon theories in regard 
to the manner of procedure in the creation. "Who hath 
kno\^Tl the mind of the Lord, or who hath been His coun- 
selor?'' Or, "Shall the thing formed say. Why hast Thou 
made me thus?" The presence of evil in the creation 
proves God to be the Author of it ; and this at once appeals 



420 "Ammi— My People/' 

to our confidence that the substance, -or thing, was a neces- 
sary factor in order that creation should be complete. 

In this thought is contained the basis of what the Scrip- 
tures term "the foreknowledge of God/' In the prophecy 
of Isaiah we read, "I am the Lord, and there is none else, 
there is no God beside Me. ... I form the light, and 
create darkness : I make peace, and create evil ; I, the Lord, 
do all these things." We are not to conclude that evil, as 
it meets us here, is in any sense connected with sin, or the 
nneaning of evil, when used in that sense. Words very 
often take their meaning from the connection in which 
they are used. The command from the Creator to the crea- 
ture was that he should not partake of the evil : the act of 
connecting man with the evil formed the transgression, and 
that is sin. For sin is the transgression of law. 

All that is connected with the first sin is of time, and 
hence it can in no sense be the cause of an effect that could 
be called eternal, without destroying the meaning of the 
Avord. There can be no greater trespass upon the relation 
of words and their qualifying power than to attempt to use 
an eternal attribute to qualify a principle of time. The 
Greek writers were not guilty of such a breach of language : 
they modestly left that contrivance for our modern trans- 
lators. 

It is admitted by all linguists of note who have given 
the subject thought, that the Greek word aioon, or the ad- 
jective form aioonios, does not mean eternal. The word, 
when properly rendered, would be age-lasting. Had this 
been adopted by our translators, we would read, age-last- 
ing fire, age-lasting judgment, age-lasting damnation, — 
which would be in perfect harmony with the spirit and 
meaning of the word. There is but one sense in which the 
word eternal can be used and give the word its proper 
meaning; and that is in connection with God and His at- 
tributes. There is no thought in the revelation of God 



Universal Eestoration. 421 

that is more expressly emphasized than that all created 
things, with age and time included, shall have an end. 

The question arises. Has the term age-lasting the same 
force when applied to the happiness of the saints as when 
speaking of the judgment of the sinner? Yes; the word 
aioon means age-lasting, and can not go beyond that wher- 
ever and whenever applied. The life of the saints and the 
Giver of that life and peace are eternal, hence shall last 
through all ages, and to all eternities as well, l^o subject 
in revelation so profoundly proves that man has an eternal 
principle as the oiie at issue. Man never had a beginning 
in the spirit ; that which the grave can not contain was and 
is eternal with God, being a part of Him. Man had a be- 
ginning in the flesh, and must of necessity have an end, 
if he is ever to enjoy the presence of his Maker. Heaven 
is principle, more than locality; locality can mean very 
little to us when separated from principle, whether it be 
here or hereafter. Whatever may be our conception of the 
*'new heaven'' and the *^new earth," anything short of their 
eternal existence can not be in keeping with revelation or 
the infinity of God. 

Sin being a thing of time, must necessarily have an 
end, with all that pertains to it. Judgment and Gehenna 
are products of time ; Satan, as Satan, is a product of time, 
or, at least, had a beginning, and will finally have an end. 
This is but a simple application of law, based upon the 
meaning of words, when used to define a principle. 

Proposition II. The mission of Christ was to destroy 
the works of the devil; and as God knows no defeat, that 
mission can never be complete until God is All and in all. 

No student of the Scriptures can fail to observe that 
the one and supreme thought running throughout the en- 
tire volume, permeating every act of the Divine Mind, is to 
restore the creature into fellowship with Himself. Nor is 
the human race the only object of His notice. Our Lord 



422 '^'Ammi— My People/' 

taught that "Xot a sparrow falls to the ground without 
My Father's notice/' So careful was He to impress the 
tenderness of the Creator towards the creature. His teach- 
ing was, "The hairs of your head are numbered." The 
example of our Lord was one of love and kindness; and 
those who would be His must follow that example, even 
down to tne smallest worm that crawls upon the ground. 
No barrier that has ever been constructed by men or devils 
has been able to withstand the force of love; and to this 
the Scriptures bear testimony : "Every knee shall bow, and 
ever}^ tongue shall confess, that Christ is Lord." If Christ 
"tasted death for all men," — ^that is, spiritual death, — can 
the Power which crowned Him victorious be felt and real- 
ized until the design be accomplished ? ivTever ! If God i? 
the Savior of all men, and especially of them that believe, 
can His saving power be effective until all men are brought 
to accept the means of saving grace? Why is it that so 
many are extremely partial to their own peculiar views in 
accepting the Word of God? Would it not be many fold 
more consistent for all believers to look forward to the ulti- 
mate victory of their King ? That God, in creation and in 
preservation, designs all things for His glory, is a well- 
defined truth fully sustained by His Word, and the gift of 
His Son was to the end that such design should be finally 
accomplished. If there be a failure here, it follows that 
the power of God is limited; and this itself would prove 
the Scriptures not of Divine origin. We are not discuss- 
ing the manner in which the end shall be reached, but the 
necessity of reaching the end in order to prove the revela- 
tion of Heaven to be true. 

The power of God and the wisdom of God are equal. 
The mercy of God and the justice of God are also equal. 
There could be no mercy unless it be founded upon justice; 
nor could there be true justice unless it be tempered with 
mercy. This is the highest conception the finite mind can 
h.ave of law wherever applied ; and it is akin to the Infinite. 



UNIVERSAL Restoratiox. 423 

Shall we claim more for man than for God? When all 
knees bow, and all tongues confess that Christ is Lord to 
the glory of God the Father^can justice founded upon mercy 
ask for more? Could further retribution founded upon 
justice be of any merit? Men by their own laws have 
answered, Xo. Is man more just than God? Many, and 
very many, it is feared, worship the unknown God. 

The Scriptures teach that the last enemy shall be de- 
stroyed ; and that enemy is death, spiritual death. If that 
which separates man from God be destroyed, there remains 
no further removing in order i:o restore man to his Maker. 
At that time it will be said, and not till then, "God is All 
and in all.^' Xor is there anything connected with the 
principle of universal restoration that is foreign to the re- 
vealed Word of Heaven. 

The manner in which God has declared, by the mouth 
of His prophets, that He will deal with the house of Israel 
is conclusive evidence that the doctrine is of Divine origin. 
The apostle to the Gentiles sounded the keynote when he 
said, "And so all Israel shall be saved." Time and again 
has God declared that He would gather His people from 
every land whither they have been scattered. The sea shall 
give them up; the earth shall not hold them back; they 
shall come from the north and from the south, from the 
east and from the west, and in the name of the anointed 
Messiah they shall all be finally saved. If the Scriptures 
do not teach the universal salvation of the house of Israel, 
and that to that end God has looked through all the passing 
years of time, they are an unsolved and unsolvable prob- 
lem. He who would undertake to dispute the universal 
restoration of the house of Israel will join issue with God. 
While the Jew shall cry "My Father" upon the principle of 
birthright, the Gentile shall cry "My Father" through the 
spirit of adoption. And upon this point, those who hold 
as absurd the system of "universal restoration" should be 
wise enough to discern their error. For almost two thou- 



424 *'Ammi— My People/^ 

sand years the chastening rod of Jehovah has been resting 
vLpon the Jewish people and nation ; their afflictions are too 
numerous to mention here; words can not describe tlie suf- 
ferings of the children of Jacob; but ere long Zion's God 
will say, "It is enough/' This proves that the time will 
surely come when the same God will reckon with the 
Gentiles. 

Further, in the restoration of the Jewish nation is de- 
clared a literal resurrection as plainly as it is possible to 
qualify a term in words. Those who deny the future resur- 
rection of the body, and yet hold the doctrine of restora- 
tion, stand in opposition to the thing, and also to the man- 
ner of performing that which they claim to believe ; which 
is equally as abusive of the principle as those who openly 
oppose it. Again we note that the manner of performing 
a thing is as sacred as the thing itself. 

Proposition III. If the creature, by partaking of the 
Divine nature, becomes kind and forgiving, the Creator, 
who is perfect in that attribute, must in the same propor- 
tion be forgiving. 

The predominating thought in the Christian religion 
is to transform the worshiper into the nature and virtue of 
the object that is worshiped. A religion that fails to do 
this is worthless and false. If "God is Love,'' then those 
who are transformed into His image must be loving. If 
man can conquer his enemies by love, shall not God be able 
to do as much? The power of love to unite is proven in 
every condition in which man has ever been found. Love 
will unite all that is susceptible of feeling, even down to 
the lower order of things ; nothing has yet been found that 
is possessed of feeling that can long resist the influence of 
love. Shall He whose name is Love fail here? Ah ! Never ! 
We recoil at the thought. Upon this principle alone Paul 
based the thought, "We shall be more than conquerors 
through Him that loved us." Might can subdue; and 
power, by reason of superior strength, may* conquer; but 



Universal Restoration. 425 

neither can produce love from the captive. God has said, — 
Xot by might nor b}' power, but by My Spirit, the Spirit 
of Love, shall you succeed. Can the spirit of love chastise ? 
Yea, verily. That is one of love's truest ties. "Whom the 
Lord loveth. He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son and 
daughter whom He receiveth." No parent can show true 
jove for their offspring, and omit the chastening rod; and 
the beautiful thought is, the child that is properly cor- 
rected, will have the greatest love for the parent; proving 
at once the effect of the uniting power of love. 

If we who are fallible and prone to err, can demon- 
strate a principle so near akin to that upon which restora- 
tion is founded, shall not He who is perfect reap the full 
harvest of it? If man, by the proper use of this power, 
can subdue his enemies, so that ill-will and hatred be de- 
stroyed, can God, who is the Author of it, be eternally 
angry? It is written, "And God shall wipe away all tears 
from all faces.'' Does the finite man possess a power that 
can still" rebel ? It is thought not. There is a sin that 
shall never be forgiven, — neither in this world nor in the 
one to come. But is it not also written that "The utter- 
most farthing shall be paid ?" That which is paid needs no 
forgiving ; the act of paying removes all cause of forgiving. 
Likewise, a fire can only burn so long as it is kindled; 
^vhen that ceases it needs no quenching, but dies from the 
work of its own hand; having destroyed the means by 
v\diich it was sustained. The doctrine of universal restora- 
tion is founded upon the natural application of law, and 
v.hen nature and grace combine to support a principle, we 
have the most warranted proof that the conclusion is cor- 
rect. If one prodigal could return, may it not be possible 
that all could follow his lead? If God can forgive one, 
may not the time finally come when He will be justified 
in receiving all ? 

Proposition lY. Since God is eternal, it therefore be- 



426 ''Ammi— My People/' 

comes impossible for the creature to institute a principle 
that could remain eternally in conflict with Him. 

Should this proposition be found false, there remain t^ 
nothing left upon which to build the pre-eminence of the 
Creator over the creature. In fact, the opposite is true. 
The act of sin separates from God ; and since the design of 
God was that all should glorify Him, and in return the 
subject from which praise come should be blessed ; should 
this be eternally frustrated, the creature has the pre-emi- 
nence of power, and the whole system becomes an unre- 
deemable wreck. 

Those who advocate the doctrine of eternal punishment 
place the Scriptures in a strait from which no reasoning 
in the power of man can deliver them, should the position 
be true. It is the most dangerous work to undertake to 
make God say that which He has never said. It is impos- 
sible, from any standpoint, to produce more from a factor 
than the factor itself contains; should man by sin accom- 
plish his eternal separation from God, this principle would 
be without foundation, and the law of equality is dead. 

Proposition V. In no way could God have shown more 
wisdom and love than in giving man freedom to act for 
himself, and, after having sown the seeds of misery and 
despair, permitting him to reap the harvest; and then re- 
quiring a recompense at his hands, and finally restoring 
him into fellowship. 

The nature of man demands freedom of action, and in 
return reason dictates that he should incur individual re- 
sponsibility. Aside from this, there can be no intelligent 
meaning attached to the plan of salvation. The principle 
of salvation contains all the beatitudes of God magnified, 
that man may be enabled to see them; as also that God 
may be able to display them, at the same time developing 
all that is good in man. In no way that the human mind 
can comprehend would it be possible for man to feel and 
realize the greatness and goodness of the God he is called 



Universal Restoration. 427 

to honor than through the means of a Savior. When all 
men come to see and feel the true worth of God's gift to 
them^ they will be drawn to adore Him who gave them the 
gift. 

The principle of universal restoration, also upon this 
point, appeals to us in a most reasonable and natural way. 
There is no class of men, however low they may be in the 
scale of development, that can not comprehend the mean- 
ing of salvation from, physical destruction. Many of the 
lower orders of creation, — and may not the same, in fact, 
be said of all of them ? — are sensible of the safety and pro- 
tection which is afforded them. Should this principle, even 
now, in the midst of a world of war and carnage, obtain 
universal recognition, all men would unite as common 
brothers. Let it be established that salvation from oppres- 
sion and wrong is a human right, and let it be to the ex- 
tent that all can see and feel assured of it, and this world 
and all that is in it will be turned from sin and ungodli- 
ness. Could there be a more just cause for honoring the 
One who is able to carry so blessed a measure into effect? 
Has not God promised in His revelation to man such a 
time in the future, when the Savior of the world will prove 
to Satan, angels, and men, that such is His design, and that 
He has the power to perform it ? 

Again, we are confronted with the fact that, through 
and by natural law and natural means, God will demon- 
strate the meaning of the Eternal; and that it is not be- 
yond the reason of man to arrive at a conception of it. As 
the rose slowly unfolds its beauty to the vision by a process 
of growth, following the well-defined path of law, so has 
God as slowly and as surely revealed His power and beauty 
to the minds of men through the inner vision of the soul. 
The contest of good and evil within the heart and soul of 
the prodigal son was a bitter one : how long it had been in 
progress we know not; but one thing is evident, — the vic- 
tory was gained only when both sides were driven to the 



428 ^'Ammi— My People/' 

verge of defeat. Further and further had the better spirit 
in the man strayed from purity and home, wandering from 
the fountain at which it was wont to drink, until in sad- 
ness and despair at last it found a check in its downward 
way. Upon the other hand, lust and sin had had their 
fill ; the fire so long pent up had broken out ; and now it 
lay smoldering upon the ruins of the conflagration for 
want of further kindling. Evil had done its worst; for a 
time home and purity had suffered a crushing defeat : but 
in the final struggle, they wrenched victor}^ from that de- 
feat, and the triumphant cry was, "I will arise and go to 
my father's house." 

Whatever else our Lord may have designed to teach in 
this parable, nothing is more forcibly expressed than that 
heaven and home will ultimately obtain the victory. That 
home and its comforts were indelibly impressed upon the 
mind of the prodigal is sanctioned by the narrative; but 
had home ever been so attractive as when he returned to it ? 
Is there a principle that can so deeply touch the human 
heart as the principle of salvation, when all else is gone? 
There is not. 

Above all, and through all, God reigns; and His op- 
portunity is only when man has reached his extremity ; and 
the comforting thought is that He always improves it. In 
that day, when we shall all stand before the judgment bar 
of God as common brothers, shoulder to shoulder, to answer 
according to our works, think ye that anything short of 
the grace of God will be able to save us ? As it is written, 
"ISTot by works of righteousness which we have done, but 
according to His mercy He has saved us, by the washing of 
regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost : that 
being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs ac- 
cording to the hope of eternal life." The final restoration 
of all into fellowship with God is thought to be supported 
by the inspired volume ; and for that reason it becomes the 
means by which God would manifest His mercy and love 



Universal Eestoration. 429" 

in a way in which the creature and the Creator could enjoy 
the greatest happiness. 

Accepting the doctrine of universal restoration as being 
true, by what system or method has God designed to ac- 
complish that end? In answering this question, nothing 
but the simple application of law shall be our guide. Any- 
thing short of that would be presumption; and here is 
where very many have gone wrong in dealing with the sub- 
ject. There are three methods by which this glorious end 
will be reached : and the Scriptures fully define them, when 
correctly understood. Those who defend the doctrine of 
universal restoration upon the ground that there is no effi- 
ciency in the sacrifice of Christ that can reach men, and 
thus deny the atonement as being of a vicarious nature, are 
in error. Because, in order to arrive at such a conclusion, 
they are forced to asseverate that which they have no power 
to deal with. I^Tothing can be more immovably fixed by 
the decree of Heaven than that the sacrifice of Christ was, 
in- deed and in truth, what these theologians have denied. 
To undertake to establish a principle upon such reasons as 
they advance is little short of blasphemy. If we are driven 
to such extremes in order to support a principle, far better, 
a thousand times, that we had forever remained silent. If 
the cross did not support a vicarious sacrifice, no meaning 
can be attached to it. Should the crucifixion be deprived 
of that signification, it stands an eternal mystery. That 
the salvation of the human race was based upon the sacri- 
fice of Christ, and that the sacrifice was vicarious, is evi- 
denced by the words of Eevelation: "Whose names were 
written in the Lamb's Book of Life, slain from the founda- 
tion of the world." From this we are to understand that, 
in the mind of God, the sacrifice of His Son had been de- 
termined before the world was created. 

Again, it is written by the prophet, "Surely He hath 
borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows : yet we did es- 
teem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But He 



430 '^Ammi— My People/' 

was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our 
iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; 
and with His stripes we are healed. . . . And Jeho- 
vah hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all."^ If we had 
nothing more than this, we should have enough to prove 
the atonement was vicarious. The prophet of the N'ew 
Testament cried, "Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh 
away the sin of the world.^^ Paul's testimony is, "He was 
offered for our transgressions, and raised again for our jus- 
tification.^' "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of 
many." Upon the doctrine that there could be no remis- 
sion of sins without the shedding of blood the fact is settled 
beyond room for controversy that the entire system of sac- 
rifice offering was of a vicarious nature, — the one taking 
the place of the other. 

The primary design of the sacrifice upon the cross was 
to remove the passive effect of the Adamic sin, which held 
all mankind as prisoners on account of that transgression. 
The apostle says, "Death reigned from Adam until Mos6s, 
even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of 
Adam's transgression."* If the apostle does not refer to 
spiritual death, his words have no meaning; but of this 
we can not charge his language, if inspiration stands for 
the claim it makes. Accepting the fact that Christ died 
for all men, then all men must have been dead, separated 
from God, and the sacrifice of Christ was to the end that 
all men might be redeemed from that death, and placed 
in a condition where nothing but active sins would be 
chargeable to them. Hence the evidence that the atone- 
ment was of a vicarious nature is overwhelming, and the 
advocates of universalism upon that ground are grossly 
mistaken. 

With this point established, it follows that, through the 
effect of the blood of Christ, the Adamic transgression 
which was passive, has been removed; and all who die 

3 Isa. Ini, 4. 4 Rom. v. 



UisrivERSAL Eestoration. 431 

without committing active sins, God has promised to re- 
store, by virtue of the atonement npon tiie cross. The 
principle, when examined, will he fonnd to rest upon the 
simple application of law. Innocence is the Alpha and the 
Omega of God, the beginning and the end. The innocence 
of the human race having been lost, nothing but the price 
of innocence could recover it; and this was by reason of 
the death of the Immaculate Lamb of God. The virtue of 
the sacrifice of Christ becomes the first means by which God 
will restore the innocent part of the human family. 

The second means of restoring the race of men to fel- 
lowship with God is found in the Gospel, or will, that the 
death of the testator sealed. 'Not is there any license 
granted for universalism to take the liberty to determine 
what the meaning and force of the will is, since the Holy 
Spirit is the Administrator. Such presumptive authority 
would destroy the righteousness of any cause. Since Christ 
died for all men, the decree of His will is, that all men 
shall share and share alike, under the condition that all 
men take upon the terms of the will. For us to attempt to 
break the will, is to enter suit in the Court of Heaven, 
where Christ only is allowed to plead. Think you, man, 
that He would plead against His own will? The condi- 
tions of the will of God in Christ are: "He that feareth 
God and worketh righteousness, is accepted of Him." By 
thus complying, all mankind will come into heirship of an 
eternal inheritance. We need not trace this part of our 
subject into details here; the ground has been gone over 
sufficiently to prove that all who want to comply are not 
lacking information of knowing how to perform. This 
brings us to the last and final page of the history of man 
while under the power of sin. 

If the doctrine of universal restoration be not able to 
explain this page so that the last word will be Love in- 
stead of Curse, it will fail. Starting with the eternal de- 
cree of God that "The soul that sinneth, it shall die," and 



432 '"Ammi— My People/' 

^'Every transgression and disobedience shall receive a just 
recompense of reward/^ a throne of justice is established 
from which none will be permitted to escape, even though it 
be only the sin of neglect. Many do not consider the sin 
of omission seriously enough. We can not stand here idle, 
and play the part of the sluggard, and then expect to reap, 
w^hen the harvest time comes, anything but disappoint- 
ment. The ant is more wise than this. It is written, "It 
must needs be that offenses come, but woe unto him by 
whom they come.^^ The one that buried his talent com- 
mitted the sin of omission, neglected to do his duty, and 
the cry was, "Cast him out !'' The point to be settled here 
is, there is no escape. While defending the doctrine of 
universal salvation, it is to be definitely understood we are 
not of the school that would set the will of Christ aside 
in order to seize the inheritance. If the sin of omission 
will bring such an one under the power of spiritual death, 
— that which separates from God, — what raust be the loss 
of him who says, "As God is merciful, therefore will I 
bide my time." Think you, man, it is a light thing to 
tempt God? Better had a man never been born than to 
fall into the hands of a willfully and maliciously wronged 
God. Shall any one say, "Let us continue in sin, that grace 
may abound ?" God forbid ! "Because God loves me, I 
will do that which He hates; because Christ died for me, 
therefore, deliberately and unblushingly, I will crucify 
Him afresh, and put Him to an open shame." Can any 
one conceive of a sin so sinful as this ? "Because there is a 
possible hope beyond the grave, therefore I will revel in 
sin and oppose God now." 

Beware all you who have come to this, and listen while 
I read you the consequences of such a course. "For the 
wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodli- 
ness and unrighteousness of -men who hold the truths of 
God in unrighteousness." You who would shrink from 
the thought of stealing from man, will you be guilty of 



Universal Eestoration. 433 

robbing Gad? While you may exercise the privilege of 
serving Gcd now, or serving Him not, think not for a mo- 
ment that you shall escape the judgment of Him whose 
love and kindness you have spurned. "For God shall bring 
everything into judgment, whether it be good or evil." 

The one and great objection that has been raised against 
the doctrine of universal restoration is, it has a tendency 
to cause men to become indifferent to duty now. The 
answer is, the reverse is true. Those who will examine the 
subject carefully and seriously will find that those who 
hold the true principle in its proper form are the most 
orthodox believers the world contains. Nor can society 
produce a class of individuals that contend more earnestly 
for the purity of life and character that should crown 
manhood and womanhood. Possibly there is no way in 
which God could manifest the greatness of His power and 
love, and that would be a stronger incentive to draw man 
to Himself, than in the manner of finally coming out vic- 
torious over all his enemies. It is accepted that to hold, 
as many do, a doctrine that is in conflict with the Word 
of God, is dangerous in the extreme. But may we not ask, 
AVhat remains of God^s gifts to us that mankind has not 
misapplied, and, through ignorance or false zeal, "wrested 
the Scriptures to their own destruction?" When the doc- 
trine of final restoration is accepted in the light in which 
God has given it to men, then will man, after seeing the 
beauty and splendor of it, worship and adore the God who 
displays the glory of it. Upon the other hand, those who 
hold the doctrine of eternal punishment have given to the 
world evidence, well supported by their own lives, that the 
simple holding of that form of doctrine has no terror for 
them or for those over whom they claim to have influence. 
The worst form of heterodoxy is in unison with eternal 
damnation ; no evidence can be taken from that side that is 
proof against restoration. 

The means which God Avill use to bring all to see and 
28 



434 "Ammi— My People/' 

accept His love will be by destroying the dross that has 
concealed the metal. We need only consider the way of 
God in dealing with men and nations in the past, to com.- 
prehend the plan that He has marked out for the future. 
There is no chance work with God. "Law and order'' is the 
watchword. It was so in the beginning, and it will be so 
in the ending. "And He shall sit as a refiner and as a 
purifier.^' This is the thought, — "purifier." Is there any- 
thing that the refining fire of God can not purify ? "Thougli 
kand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished.'' 
"Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness 
to the plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge 
cf lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding places; 
and your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and 
your agreement with hell shall not stand, when the over- 
flowing scourge shall pass through.'' God created us not 
to destroy us, but to save us, even unto the uttermost from 
all that is sinful and impure. 

So long as we are unkind and unloving ; haters of peace 
snd purity; sensual and selfish; slaves to lust and passion; 
full of envying and filled with unholy desires; alienated 
from God and strangers to mercy, — so long as any is given 
to these, where he is, hell is, and will continue to be, until 
the refining love of God purifies him. How long we may 
harden our hearts against the constraining love of God, no 
one knows but God. One thing is certain, none have ever 
drifted so far from home that its memory did not follow 
them. Wherever our life's boat may drift, the eternal good- 
ness of God follows us. And so the poet sang : 

"I know not where His islands lift 
Their fronded palms in air ; 
I only know I can not drift 
Beyond His loving care." 

The human soul is an eternal essence, and in reckoning 
with it, we must not forget that we are told, "No man 
knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man that is 



Universal Eestoration. 435 

in him." The secret is within, and none bnt the heart- 
searching mind of God can know it. It is sometimes said, 
we start in the beginning of life alike innocent. Not so. 
AVe are not altogether thus in the morning of life. The 
passive effect of sin may be seen and felt. Many start in 
life handicapped by some inherited taint, which the pos- 
sessor has no way of escaping, an inborn trait that very 
often shows its predominance even nnder careful training. 
Who shall answer for this indelible stamp? But this is 
not all. How many thousands, — yea, millions, — are born 
in an unfavorable condition, which binds them as with iron 
bands ! And added to this are conditions wholly unfavor- 
able for any chance to become free, the subjects growing 
to manhood and womanhood in the midst of a fire that is 
devouring even the pureness of the air they breathe. Who 
shall be sufficient to reckon with these but an all-wise, all- 
just, and an all-merciful God? This question has set the 
minds of thinking men at sea in all ages. But shall not 
the justice of God find a solution ? 

We who have received so much, and gained so little, 
shall we cry out against our fellow-men, "Away with him 
to an endless Gehenna ?" Ah, no ! Our being revolts at 
such absence of mercy. "Shall not the Judge of all the 
earth do right?'' Is man more just than God? The design 
of God is to purify man, not to destroy or eternally pun- 
ish him. If men will choose fire instead of willing serv- 
ice ; if they would rather pay than be forgiven, God grant 
that they may have their choice ; but arrive at purification 
they will, sooner or later. Blood, water, and fire are the 
three elements by which God will finally accomplish His 
victory. 

As the refiner watches the ore until its inherent purity 
reflects his image, so shall the Eternal Father of all be 
satisfied when all men reflect His image. And when all is 
returned to its eternal origin, being bound by one common 



436 ''Ammi— My People/' 

cord, the cor'd of love, the heavens will break forth in 
au eternal song, sa}dng, "Of Him, and through Him, and 
to Him, are all things, forever !" "Then shall the angel of 
God, standing with one foot upon the land and the other 
npon the sea, and with an uplifted hand, swear by Him who 
liveth forever, that Time shall be no longer. Amen, and 
Amen !" 

'* One God, one law, one element, 
And one far-off Divine event 
To which the whole creation moves." 



OUTLINE STUDY OF THE BOOK OF 
REVELATION. 

''What thou seest write in a hooh, and send it unto the 
seven congregations in Asia." — Eev. i, 11. 

Few passages of the inspired volume contain so much 
in so few words as this closing book of the New Testament 
Scriptures. The magnitude of its scope is described in 
the words, "Write the things which thou hast seen, and the 
things which are, and the things which shall shortly be 
hereafter." The introduction of the book fixes its author, 
as well as its title, and the person to whom the message was 
given, and to whom it was to be delivered. The contents 
are composed of history and prophecy, the latter predomi- 
nating ; and for this reason the book is reluctant to give up 
its secrets without careful application on the part of the 
reader. It is the closing canon of the testimony from 
Heaven, and so a special sacredness is attached to it. Its 
style is common to all Scripture, in that there is a com- 
mingling of images, a lapping over of events, as the mes- 
sage progresses. It is not a continued revelation of new 
conditions or things, but is very often broken up into frag- 
ments, which find their adjustment at times in connection 
with what had gone before. Like much of the prophecy 
contained in the Book of Daniel, it is clothed in language 
which forms the mask of real truth, — a feature more or 
less common to all inspired Scripture. 

The wise man has said, "It is the glory of God to con- 
ceal a thing, but the honor of kings to search out a mat- 
ter." The words of the prophet Isaiah properly describe 
the style of the words of the Lord : "Line upon line, pre- 

437 



438 '^Ammi— My People/' 

ccpt uporL precept, here a little and there a little." There 
was an abundance of material for building the temple, but 
the workmen had to hew it out, and put it together; nor 
would the pieces fit just anywhere; each must be placed 
where it belonged. The most precious things are found 
only after much searching, and this adds to the importance 
of keeping them when found. The necessity of applying 
ourselves to the study of the Eevelator's prophecy is em- 
phasized in the words of him who gave it : "Blessed is he 
that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy 
and keep those things that are written therein, for the time 
is at hand." These words not only demand an attentive 
reading of the prophecy, but are an assurance that it may 
be comprehended as well. The blessings of God are prom- 
ised us upon conditions ; while we may not understand the 
conditions upon which the "rain falls upon the unjust," 
all will be made plain in time. Paul says, "The ways of 
God are past finding out," from the finite standpoint. If 
we can gather nothing from the reading and hearing of 
this message, there will be nothing to keep, since we can 
not keep that which we are unable to acquire. 

But we conclude that there is a possibility of our un- 
derstanding this prophecy. As it is largely composed of 
predictions of things that are yet to come, we assign to it 
at once the aspect of a progressive revelation. The part 
which applies to the several congregations bears the name 
of each, and is applicable to the congregations of God's 
people wherever found. How much of what was prophecy 
to them has become history to us, depends upon the proper 
interpretation of the book. Man in all ages has staggered 
at prophecy; not so much because he disbelieved the au- 
thority of it, but he could not comprehend the fulfilling of 
the message. 

The Jewish nation believed confidently in the predic- 
tions of their prophets, but grossly failed to discern the 
time of their appointment. Few of that nation had the 



Outline Study of ti-ie Book of Revelation. 439 

true conception of the prophecies concerning tlieir destin}^, 
because in breaking the law by which they were to worship 
God, their senses were obscured. "Eyes had the}', but they 
saw not ; ears had they, but they heard not.'' The promise 
is: "The secrets of the Lord are to them that fear Him, 
and to such will He make known His covenant." Those 
who were faithful were indeed blessed for their fidelity to 
God and His Word. Certain it is, if we are to understand 
correctly the message of Revelation, the condition lies in 
our faithfulness to the service of God. 

Again, it is said, "If thou lift up thy voice for knowl- 
edge, and cry aloud for understanding; if thou search for 
her as for hidden treasure, and seek for her as for silver, 
then shalt thou know the fear of the Lord and the knowl- 
edge of God." The title of the book at once suggests the 
uncovering of something; for that is the meaning of the 
word "Revelation." The leading thought is, the revealing 
of the mysteries of God. By this we are not to understand 
that man is always in a condition or position to under- 
stand the mystery when revealed to him. Upon first 
thought, this may seem to conflict with the truth ; but not 
so. Belshazzar, through the handwriting upon the wall, 
received a revelation ; to him that much was clear ; he gave 
evidence that he understood it to be a revelation. But did 
he understand the message? !N"o; not until Daniel, who 
possessed the spirit of the writer, interpreted the sign of 
the handwriting, could he know what the revelation meant. 
Kebuchadnezzar and little Joseph both received revelations, 
but neither fully understood them. By this we see a thing 
may be revealed in part, and though the greater portion 
remains a secret, it is still a revelation. 

The entire volume of inspiration comes to us as a flower 
unfolds its bloom, in ever-increasing beauty. We grow in 
grace and the knowledge of the truth. Never should we 
forget that this growth is encouraged in proportion to our 
effort in tilling the ground. Its condition is characterized 



440 "Ammi— My People/' 

b}^ four principles, — reading, hearing, keeping, and obey- 
ing. When we follow hard after these, we will be sure to 
grow; and this, like every form of growth, comes all but 
unconsciously to us. The Giver of this book at one time 
said, "Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have 
eternal life, and they are they which testify of Me.^^ Our 
lack of knowing often results from a lack of searching. 
One of the promises connected with the office of the Holy 
Spirit is, "He will show you things to come.'' 

One thing in connection with this revelation is worthy 
of our notice : If he to whom it was first given, urged by the 
Spirit, fell at the feet of Him who gave it before he could 
receive it, shall we to whom it is delivered be able to un- 
derstand it until we, too, be filled with the Spirit? The 
one great secret of comprehending God's message is that 
we are to be guided by the Spirit ; herein lay Daniel's power 
to stand before the king. As the time drew near for the 
closing of the Book of the Old Testament Scriptures, the 
message from God by the mouth of the prophets increased 
in meaning and fullness, but the unregenerate people to 
whom the words were given, turned a deaf ear, and be- 
came so depraved, both socially and religiously, that God 
could no longer forbear, and in words of judgment the 
prophet declares, "Behold the day cometh that shall burn 
as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wick- 
edly, shall be as stubble: and the day that cometh shall 
burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave 
them neither root nor branch. . . . Behold, I will 
send 3^ou Elijah the prophet before the coming of the 
great and dreadful day of the Lord : and he shall turn the 
heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the 
children to the fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with 
a curse." Thus closes the last page of God's testimony to 
the house of Jacob. Who can measure the meaning of the 
l?st word of that book, the word curse f Yet may not the 
liistory of that people explain it? Remembering how 



Outline Study of the Book of Revelation. 441 

closely the same word is connected with the first page of 
our history, and reappearing again npon the close of this 
portion of God's testimony, we are deeply impressed with 
the words of Paul when he said, "In my flesh dwelleth no 
good thing/' 

The date of this prophecy is near the close of the first 
century of the present dispensation. The book seems to 
be divided into twelve portions or scenes, which, while they 
are not entirely separate from that which precedes or fol- 
lows, are yet in themselves complete to a certain degree. 
The prophecy is one of the most profound the world has 
ever received or ever will receive while this period of time 
lasts. The prophet Daniel, when speaking in reference to 
the time, says, "And there shall be a time of trouble, such 
as never was since there was a nation even to that same 
time.'' Our Lord, in the Sermon on the Mount of Olivet, 
refers to it. Many marvelous events have occurred in the 
ages past, but none that can compare with events to come, 
in which this book deals. Space forbids a lengthy com- 
mentary upon the entire prophecy. For this reason the 
minor features will be passed over to discuss those of more 
complexity. It is thought, by dividing the book into the 
several parts, a better opportunity may be given the reader 
to grasp, and at the same time keep in mind, what may be 
gathered. 

The first, second, and third chapters comprise what is 
thought to be the first scene, or first part, of the vision. 
The introduction at once establishes the authority of the 
book, and tells to whom it was delivered, as well as dis- 
closes the purpose for which it was given, — as witness the 
words, "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the 
end, the first and the last: and what thou seest, write in 
a book, and send it unto the seven congregations which 
are in Asia." The first chapter describes the majesty of 
Him who was to inform the writer of the contents of the 
message, and declares the impossibility of mortality being 



442 "Ammi— My People/' • 

able to look npon immortalit}', and that flesh has no power 
in the presence of the Spirit of God. The remaining por- 
tion of the chapter contains the several messages that were 
to be sent to the individual congregations. From the tenor 
of the messages^ the congregations in that day did much 
that the Spirit could not approve. There were but two 
congregations that had kept themselves free from rebuke^ — 
Smyrna and Philadelphia. One feature is noticeable, 
when we examine the nature of the charges against the 
congregations: they include almost all the offenses that 
have corrupted the congregations in every age; and which 
are very prominent to-day. In Ephesus there were false 
apostles, men who would stoop to telling lies in order to 
gain the ascendency. Some others had deserted their first 
love, while some were subservient to the doctrine of Nicolas, 
who taught it was no harm to practice the blighting curse 
of polygamy, — an iniquity which has stamped its brand 
upon our own nation. Still, if all the polygamists were 
of the school of Xicolas, and would be as frank to admit it, 
though the thing be a devouring blight, it would be far 
better for the innocent. The spirit of claiming more than 
was possessed had entered the congregation at Smyrna, 
and still remains among the people of God. Pergamos 
seems to have been surrounded by strong opposition; the 
words are, "Thou dwellest even where Satan's seat is,'' and 
while the Spirit is in a degree indulgent because of the 
faithfulness of the congregation in the past, it can not 
condone corruption, and proceeds to locate the trouble: 
"Thou hast them there that hold the doctrine of Balaam." 
The peculiarities of this doctrine are, sacrificing to idols 
and committing fornication. There were some also who 
held the doctrine of Nicolas, a thing which the Spirit 
hated. How much this means to the people of God to-day 
we can hardly measure; that giant of evils, polygamy, is 
daring the purity of our homes, as it were, and forcing 
the innocent into the vile current on every hand. 



Outline Study of the Book of Revelation. 443 

At Thyatira the brethren permitted a woman to be a 
teacher among them, whose name was Jezebel. This was 
an innovation which carried with it the same cnrse as the 
spurious doctrines of idol worship and fornication. Cer- 
tain it is that these two sins, as a pair of twins, have fol- 
lowed the Church in -all her journey, and are still at her 
very door. The congregation at Sardis presents a striking 
likeness to the congregations of to-day, — "A name that 
thou livest, but art dead." Here is displayed the dire 
emptiness of a reputation in the absence of character, a 
caution that should serve to put all professors on their 
guard, that they may strive to be true to their calling. 

There were a few yet left in Sardis who had not de- 
filed their garments ; and to them was promised the blessed 
assurance that they should "walk with Me in white." At 
Philadelphia there was yet a little strength, which had been 
kept by the congregation, in not denying the name of their 
Master. Here also were some who said they were "Jews, 
and were not, but did lie." Was there ever a religion so 
false as that which claims to serve God, and then denies the 
source of power? The virtue which Abraham possessed 
lay in the purity of his faith in God and God's way. Many 
covet the blessings which come from obedience, and openly 
rebel against the act of obeying. 

The Laodiceans were in a deplorable condition, — 
neither cold nor hot. Nothing is said as to what they did 
by way of corruption in doctrine or practice; the charge is, 
"Thou art neither cold nor hot;" yet withal they had 
"riches and increase of goods, and had need of nothing." 
The desire for earthly things had sapped the life of the 
better part of them, and left them, as it were, half dead; 
a condition least of all to be desired. 

This division of the book closes with the comforting 
promise: "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be- 
hold, I stand at the door and knock ; if any man hear My 
voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup 



444 "Ammi — My People/^ 

with him and he with Me." "He that hath ears to hear^ 
let him hear what the Spirit saith imto the congregations." 

Second division: "After this I looked, and behold, a 
door was opened in heaven: and the voice which I heard 
was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, 
Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must 
be hereafter." "And immediately I was in the spirit." 
This is the introduction of the second scene, and closes 
with the fifth chapter. 

Two things strike the mind at the outset in this part of 
the book. There is not only a change of condition, but a 
change of location also: the things of earth are for- 
gotten, as it were, for a time, and the thought is centered 
in heaven on the throne of God. The throne is described, 
and those who worship thereat; as also the four living 
creatures, and their office, with all the hosts of heaven, who 
cast their crowns before the throne, saying, "Holy, holy, 
holy Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to 
come." The key-verse in the fourth chapter is the last one, 
the latter part of which reads, "For Thou hast created all 
things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created." 

In the hand of Him who sat upon the throne was a 
book, "written within and without, sealed with seven seals," 
— a symbol of the destiny of the human family, until the 
time come when "the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the 
Eoot of David, prevailed to open the book." The appear- 
ance of a strong angel crying with a loud voice, fully por- 
trays the means or power that it would take to reinstate 
man into fellowship with God. A Lamb appears in the 
midst of the throne and of the four living creatures which 
surround the throne, — indicating, in the clearest terms, 
that Christ came out from God, from the midst of the 
throne; a person who was to undertake the redemption of 
the human race; not separate from, but out of God, and 
having power with God. In the vision the Lamb is slain, 
or, "as it had been slain, having seven eyes and seven horns, 



Outline Study oe the Book of Kevelation. 445 

which are the seven Spirits of God." It is thought the 
"seven Spirits of God/^ spoken of in this figure, find their 
substance in the seven attributes of God, — He sees us; He 
hears us; He feels for us; He tasted death for us; the 
prayers of the saints come up as a sweet-smelling incense 
to Him; He loves us; and He redeems us. When this is 
assured the man of Patmos, he ceases to weep. 

As the scene progresses, the efficacy of the power of the 
Lamb is seen, and the vision gently glides to the time when 
the fullness of that power will be manifested. Multiplied 
thousands join in the chorus, until the closing scene is de- 
clared in the words, "And every created thing heard I say- 
ing. Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power be unto Him 
that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever 
and ever." And thus ends the second division of this book, 
with the assured prophecy that the closing words of the 
first scene will ultimately be accomplished, when all created 
things will do the will of God as it is done in heaven, — the 
blessed consummation of our Lord^s Prayer, the glorious 
millennial reign. 

Third division: "And I saw when the Lamb opened 
one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thun- 
der, one of the four living creatures saying. Come and see." 
This part is composed of the sixth and seventh chapters. 

Again there is a change of location, as well as a change 
of thought. The vision opens with a symbol in the form 
of a white horse, whose mission was "conquering and to 
conquer ;" after which follows a similarity of symbols, dif- 
fering only in color, but their missions were for different 
purposes. Some have thought that the mission of at least 
part of these symbols has been fulfilled. To the mind of 
the present writer the work is yet to be performed. In the 
prophecy of Zechariah, chapter six, we read of a likeness 
of symbols and a combination of circumstances which are 
to precede the coming of Christ, the "Branch," when the 
house of Israel shall be gathered into their own land, and 



446 "Ammi — My People/' 

enjoy the beauty of their temple. In Ezekiel xiv, 21, we 
read of four "sore judgments" that fell upon the house of 
Jacob just before the end of that people as a nation. In 
like manner it is thought the purpose of these symbols will 
be accomplished at or near the end of Gentile time. The 
"Branch" spoken of in Zechariah can not be other than 
Christ, and the time mentioned is when He will establish 
His kingdom upon the earth. 

Further, the opening of the fifth and sixth seals clearly 
finds fulfillment at the coming of the King of Peace. The 
scene of the opening of the seals is realized in the power 
of Christ to rebuke the enemy of souls, and deliver them 
from his bonds ; and in no way could this better be demon- 
strated to the devil, and them that serve him, than at the 
coming of Christ. While it is true the power that will ac- 
complish this has been seen and felt, there is still awaiting 
a greater and fuller demonstration of that power. The 
sealing of the one hundred and forty and four thousand of 
the servants of G-od in their foreheads, and the time when 
that will be done, is not so clear. In Ezekiel ix, 4, we read 
of a sealing of certain men in their foreheads who abhorred 
abominations, and after that there was a slaughter. 

The closing part of the vision in Eevelation describes a 
condition that will obtain only when all the scenes of earth 
are past. Beginning at the ninth verse of the seventh chap- 
ter of this book, the language describes that which alone 
belongs to the final gathering of the redeemed in heaven 
around the throne of God. One thing is impressed upon 
the mind in connection with the sealing : it is to be on the 
earth. The words are, "Hiirt not the earth, neither the sea, 
nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in 
their foreheads." From this we conclude it can not be 
short of the time when the whole house of Israel will be 
upon the earth, from the fact that there are sealed from all 
the tribes of Jacob, each twelve thousand. There are no 
Gentiles in this number, as some are inclined to think; all 



Outline Study of the Book of Eevelation. i47 

are of the house of Israel. With these facts confronting 
us, it is thought that the time of the sealing can not be 
other than at the close of the thousand years sabbath. If 
there was a time when the Avhole house of Israel were upon 
the earth previous to this, the writer has no knowledge of 
it. The words are plain, and qualified; should none of 
the conditions have been so clearly expressed, the mind 
would have placed the event long before. No doubt this 
will be somewhat new to some, yet it is thought, when all 
the conditions are examined, the conclusions presented will 
not be in conflict with the Word; and this is important. 
That which immediately follow^s goes far to strengthen our 
position. And this brings us to the 

Fourth division: Comprising the seventh and eighth 
chapters of Eevelation. The introduction is, "And when 
He had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven 
about the space of half an hour." 

A new thought is now introduced, separated from that 
which preceded it. The vision brings us to the opening of 
the seventh and last seal, while some marvelous transac- 
tion awaits the result. The harps of heaven are hushed, 
all voices are stilled, and, as. with abated breath, the audi- 
tors listen. There is silence in heaven, and at least one 
portion of eternity is measured. Seven angels stand, with 
seven trumpets, and await the signal, before the throne of 
God. Another angel comes with a golden censer, and with 
the incense of the prayers of the saints. Silence still reigns. 
The angel approaches the altar, and fills the golden censer 
with fire from off the altar of God, and instantly casts it 
upon the earth, when the whole artillery of heaven breaks 
forth, with "voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and 
earthquakes," and the seven angels prepare themselves to 
sound their trumpets. At the sounding of the trumpets 
by the seven angels, earth becomes a veritable Gehenna of 
fire, which increases in force and significance as the scene 
approaches the close. Noting this part of the vision^ — 



448 "Ammi — My People/' 

nothing preceding it in the Eevelation from heaven equals 
it in the manner of its description and application. The 
scene ends with no evidence of either side yielding, and 
nothing is intimated as to the result. As reference is again 
made to this part of the vision, an opinion as to the time 
is withheld for the present. 

Fifth division: This portion of the book is completed 
in the tenth chapter; the trend of thought is separated 
from the events in the preceding parts, as also from those 
which follow. In this portion of the vision the prophet 
is prepared for another mission. The mighty angel with 
a rainbow upon his head, whose face is as the brightness of 
the sun; the little book; the voice of the seven thunders; 
the sealing of what they had uttered ; the cessation of time, 
which was declared by the mighty angel with an uplifted 
hand, — all withhold the secret as to the time of their ac- 
complishment. This much we can gather, however, — when 
the seventh angel sounds, the mystery of God will be 
finished; His prophecies will be done, and the object ac- 
complished of which the servants and prophets of God in 
all ages have been speaking. The writer is inclined to 
think that the voice of the seven thunders and the cessa- 
tion of time will find their fulfillment in the day "when 
Christ shall deliver the kingdom up to the Father, and God 
shall be All and in all." The little book was to prepare 
the reader for another prophecy, or rather an extended 
prophecy: the thought is here concluded and the vision 
opens with a new thought. 

Sixth division: This portion of the scene is complete 
in the eleventh chapter. It is opened by the "measuring 
of the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship 
therein." The court of the Gentiles is not measured; "and 
the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two 
months." All these combine to place this part of the 
prophecy within Gentile time, when the house of Israel 
shall "abide many days without a king," — having reference 



Outline Study of the Book of Eevelation. 449 

to the last half of Daniel's seventieth week, or a thousand 
two hundred and threescore days, or "time, times, and a 
half time/' The three expressions mean the same portion 
of time, and the only difference is in the manner of ex- 
pression. 

Two witnesses appear to prophesy upon the earth, 
Enoch and Elijah. Their prophecy is to last three years 
and a half; at the close of which they shall be killed by 
"the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit." After 
three days and a half, life enters into their bodies and they 
stand upon their feet. At the voice from heaven saying, 
"Come up hither,'' they "ascend up to heaven in a cloud." 
There are several reasons for ascribing this prophecy to 
the prophets herein named. First, their mission is to tes- 
tify; God will have witnesses. As Enoch lived before the 
flood, and was accepted of God, for "God took him," the 
proper place is found here to prove the righteousness of 
God in the first two thousand years. Elijah was approved 
of God, and he likewise "ascended in a chariot of fire." 
His testimony will prove the righteousness of God in the 
intermediate period. Further, these men have never died, 
and for that reason, also, they must pass through the way 
of death. 

An earthquake destroys the tenth part of the city 
wherein the two witnesses are killed, and the remnant give 
God glory. There are three woes mentioned in this con- 
nection, but only one is defined: the words are, "The sec- 
ond woe is past ; and behold the third woe cometh quickly." 
The first woe, no doubt, was the famine that would be 
likely to follow the shutting up of the heavens so that there 
was no rain for three years and a half. The third woe is yet 
to come. The reader is not to understand that reference is 
made here to the days of Elijah, in the time of Ahab. All 
this, and more, will take place during the closing scenes of 
the present dispensation. This portion of the vision closes 
with the sounding of the seventh angel, and the rejoicing 
29 



450 "Ammi— My People/' 

in heaven over the victory of Christ and the setting up of 
his kingdom on the earth. The destruction of the wicked- 
ness of the earth is promised, while the temple of God in 
heaven is opened, declaring the ark of His testimony, that 
"not one jot or tittle of the word should pass till all be ful- 
filled." The elements again respond to their Creator, "and 
there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an 
earthquake, and great hail." 

Thus ends the sixth part of this book in a manner simi- 
lar to the one before it, showing a repetition of events as 
described in the vision, and while each of the several parts 
contains a feature within itself, the parts, when put to- 
gether, form the whole. 

Seventh division : The twelfth chapter forms this part 
of the book, and contains a series of events separated from 
those which are past. 

The scene opens with the words, "And there appeared 
a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, 
and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown 
of twelve stars." Again the message centers upon heaven, 
and the vision is ojie of intense interest, growing in mean- 
ing and intensity as the scene lengthens. Two opposite 
principles meet, and the spirit of vengeance and persecu- 
tion follow the "woman," the Church. The third verse 
brings the opposing power in view, and describes it in lan- 
guage pregnant with thought. "And there appeared an- 
other wonder in heaven ; and behold a great red dragon, 
having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon 
his head." The woman in the vision is a symbol that is 
double in its meaning. Her condition, as well as the re- 
sult of that condition, finds its fulfillment in the mother 
of Jesus, who answers to the "man child." 

The dragon is equivalent to Satan or Lucifer ; the heads 
which were crowned are symbols of world powers which 
will be under the control of the adversary; the stars are 
symbols of the fallen angels that joined Satan in opposing 



OuTLiisrE Study of the Book: of Revelation. 451 

God, and were cast ■upon the earth. The child which was 
caught up into heaven finds its fulfillment in the Son of 
God. The woman is also a figure of the Church: a symbol 
with a twofold meaning. The woman in the first verse is 
represented as the mother of the man child. The Church 
is the representation of the body of Christ on earth, as 
also the means through which we are born into the family 
of God, and become joint heirs with Christ ; hence the two- 
fold meaning attached to the symbol. The "ruling with a 
rod of iron^^ applies to Christ only when subduing His 
enemies. The flight of the woman into the wilderness 
where "she hath a place prepared of God ; that they should 
feed her a thousand two hundred and threescore days," is 
the same in duration as the time allotted to the prophecy of 
the two witnesses, and will find its fulfillment during the 
same trying scenes. The "time, times, and half time," 
mentioned in the fourteenth verse, and the expression of 
duration in the sixth, are the same. The word "remnant" 
in the seventeenth verse, conveys a significance that can not 
be passed over without consideration. 

The fact running throughout the entire Scriptures that 
the people of God shall be few in the closing of this dis- 
pensation, adds force to the word "remnant," and proves 
that there will be a qualifying of our Lord's words : "Ex- 
cept those days be shortened, no fiesh shall be saved; but 
for the elect's sake those days will be shortened." What- 
ever may be the true meaning of the words of the prophet 
Daniel, where he uses the same expression, certain it is the 
nourishing of 'the woman — ^the Church — can not last longer 
than the prophecy of the two witnesses. The casting out 
of Satan and his hosts upon the earth ended the war in 
heaven, and reconciled those things to God again. The 
victory was "by the blood of the Lamb," proving that, not 
until that blood was shed could any reconciliation be made, 
either in heaven or in earth. That the casting out could 
not have been before that, is further supported by the 



452 "Ammi— My People/' 

words, "Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the 
sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great 
wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time/' 
The flood is a symbol of the persecutions which will over- 
take the Church near the end of her race. 

Eighth divison : This portion of the book opens with 
the thirteenth chapter, and is also complete in itself so 
far as the act or thought is portrayed. 

Possibly no part of the vision is more pregnant with 
meaning than this. In it is found a parallel prophecy with 
Daniel and Paul, and only by combining the three can a 
true solution be arrived at. Very much of this book has 
a kindred connection to many of the former prophecies, 
and for that reason the complexity of it is increased; yet 
in this part the identity is so plain that we need not be in 
error. In the introduction of this portion of the message 
the same symbol meets the mind as in the preceding one: 
"And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast 
rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, 
and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the 
name of blasphemy." The beast in animus and power is 
strictly in accord with the one of which Daniel speaks. 
In fact, this chapter, and the e /enth chapter of Daniel, 
and the second chapter of Second Thessalonians, are in 
many respects almost identical. 

The fact that the beast rose up out of the sea, — which 
means people, — is evidence that the power here spoken of 
Avill be supported by the nations of the earth in opposition 
to the God of heaven. Another feature is noticeable, — 
there' is an increase of power over the scene in the third 
verse of the twelfth chapter. There were but seven horns 
crowned when the power was first seen ; now there are ten, 
denoting complete control over the whole earth. The dura- 
tion is the same in the words of Daniel as in this place, — 
forty and two months. In the Book of Daniel this beast 
or power is called "The King." Paul speaks o^ him as the 



Outline Study of the Book of Revelatiox. 453 

"Man of Sin/' His -unlimited power over the earth, and 
his persecution of the faithful, are so forcefull}^ portrayed 
by these three writers, that when we read the account in 
one, we see him set forth in the other. Some have placed 
the prophecy of Daniel in the time of those wicked kings 
that consumed the house of Israel; but this can not be, 
from the likeness this power or beast bears to the one de- 
scribed here, and also by Paul. The prophecy of the three 
writers, each converges to the one thing, — something in 
the future. 

Into whatever form the opposing spirit has molded it- 
self in the past, there yet remains a more formidable and 
defying presentation still. He is to be diverse from the 
other powers, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth are to be of 
iron, and his nails brass, devouring, breaking in pieces, 
and trampling down; a destroyer in the full sense of the 
word; the Son of Perdition. All that Romanism is and 
has been; all that the Medes and Persians have been; all 
that Alexander the G-reat has been; all that Antiochus 
Epiphanes, — who was Israel's worst foe,— has been; all 
that Antichrist of the Old Testament and the 'New has 
been, — this Man of Sin, Son of Perdition, the King, will 
be, and still more. One of his attributes is, "He doeth 
great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from 
heaven on the earth in the sight of men." None are to 
escape who will not worship the image which this power 
shall set up. He shall not only cause an image to be made, 
but has power to give that image life; so that "the image 
will cause as many as will not worship the image of the 
beast shall be killed." Here is a picture of the arch-enemy 
of God at his climax. Nothing before has ever equaled it ; 
nothing shall come after that will surpass it; and it shall 
be in "the latter days, in the time of the end." 

Who is, or will be, this usurper of power and liberty? 
Have we no key by which we can at least discover the 
branch, if not the tree? It is thought there is a connec- 



454 "Ammi — My People/^ 

tion of prophecies and revelations in this book sufficiently 
clear, for all who seek, to find a consistent warning; for 
warning it is. The Spirit expresses it thus : "If any man 
have ears to hear, let him hear/^ The beginning of the 
solution of this problem will be found in the last verse of 
the thirteenth chapter, which reads: "Here is wisdom. 
Let him that hath understanding count the number of the 
beast : for it is the number of a man ; and his number is 
six hundred threescore and six (666).'' 

There is one peculiar feature connected with the 
prophecy of Daniel: none of the other prophecies of the 
old Scriptures contain nearly so much in reference to the 
Gentile kingdom. As Paul was the Hebrew preacher to 
the Gentiles, Daniel seems to have been their Hebrew 
prophet. In the end of his prophecy there gathers an in- 
creasing interest that the old prophet was well assured of ; 
but the words in which the meaning was clothed, placed a 
barrier in his way, and that it was so intended by the 
Divine Mind is evidenced by the following words: "But 
thou, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even 
to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and 
knowledge shall be increased. ... I heard, but I un- 
derstood not, then said I, my Lord, when shall these 
things be ? or what shall be the end of these things ?" How 
affectionately the answer comes, — "Go thy way, Daniel: 
for the words are closed up, and sealed till the time of 
the end. . . . For thou shalt rest and stand in thy 
lot at the end of the da3^s.^' And thus the old prophet 
closes his message with his anxiety unabated, but with the 
blessed assurance that all will be well. If there were yet 
some things that he would desire to know ; if so much had 
been vouchsafed to him, and yet some things withheld, that 
should be no cause for despondency ; and as a tender father 
would withhold some precious thing from his infant son, 
so the Spirit comfortingly assures this faithful servant, 
"All shall be well, and in that day thou also shalt know;" 



Outline Study of the Book of Revelation. 455 

and standing in his lot, he should see and know the price 
of victory. 

But the "man'' whose number is foretold, who and 
Avhere is he? "Here is wisdom." This much the Spirit 
assures all who read this prophecy: and those who would 
understand it must be able to count correctly: "Let him 
^vho hath understanding count the number of the beast : 
for it is the number of a man ; and his number is six hun- 
dred threescore and six.'^ This verse contains Daniel's 
secret, and the whole secret, but not all the knowledge that 
may lead to tlie unlocking of the secret. Daniel found out 
some things by studying the books; we do well to follow 
his example. The phrase "knowledge shall increase" lends 
encouragement to all seekers after truth. 

In the effort to solve this prophecy, one thing must be 
settled before we can have any assurance that we shall be 
able to arrive at the solution; and that is. Has the end- 
time come sufficiently near when the seal is to be broken? 
It was said it "shall be sealed up to the end." It is thought 
that the time is here, at least to the extent that the Spirit 
has promised to "shew things to come." Space forbids a 
lengthy disquisition; some points will be given, and the 
reader can fill in and complete the subject as his interest 
may prompt. 

In the seventeenth chapter, third verse, we read: "So 
he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and 
I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of 
names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 
. . . And upon her forehead was a name written. Mys- 
tery^ Babylon the Great^ the Mother of Harlots 
AND Abominations of the Earth. And I saw the woman 
drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood 
of the martyrs of Jesus; and when I saw her, I wondered 
with great astonishment. And the angel said unto me. 
Wherefore didst thou wonder, or marvel? I will tell thee 
the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carricth 



456 '^Ammi— My People/' 

her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns." After 
speaking of several other beasts, — ^which in this connection 
ahvays stand for power, — the angel proceeds to interpret 
the vision. His opening words are, "And here is the mind 
that hath wisdom;" another warning is here given. By 
reasoning conversely we shall arrive at the conclusion more 
imderstandingly. "The seven heads are seven mountains 
upon which the woman sitteth." Every historian knows 
that the noted city of Eome, the seat of Eomanism, is sit- 
uated upon seven hills or mountains, and no other city in 
the world is. The "woman, the mother of harlots," the 
angel declares, is that city. This the messenger affirms; 
we need have no fears as to its correctness. Further, it is 
the principle for which that city stands, that is stained 
with the blood of the servants of Jesus to an extent that 
more than justifies the angel in saying "she was drunken 
with that blood." For in her insatiable thirst for blood she 
became so crazed as to receive, as it were, a deadly wound ; 
but through her subtlety and craftiness she has again gath- 
ered strength that will some day surprise the nations of 
the world, who to-day are guilty of offering her flattery. 
So far there can be no mistake. 

The center and seat of that "woman, the mother of 
harlots," is the Vatican, where the pope, and he alone, is 
supreme. There he sits, by a more positive and united con- 
sent of people that have knowledge and wealth, combining 
power, than is given to any other man in the world. More, 
the vision declares, as it lengthens, that the seven heads 
and seven horns represent the beast that will stand in op- 
position to the God of heaven. Certain it is, if prophecy 
could be more plainly revealed than this, and with more 
evidence combined to prove it, it would hardly partake of 
the nature and manner of prophecy. 'No one can study the 
words of the Spirit as delivered by the mouth of the prophet 
T>aniel, the Apostle Paul, and St. John the Revelator, and 
not feel the force of this conclusion. In summing up the 



Outline Study of the Book of Eevelation. 457 

titles by which the beast is to be known; the power or 
spirit with which he stands connected; the history of that 
power ; the spirit of predominance that controls the entire 
body, we find conclusive proof that here is the key to the 
number of the beast. The Man. Daniel calls him. "The 
Ring/' Paul says he is "The Man of Sin, the Son of Per- 
dition, who exalteth himself above all that is called God 
or is worshiped." The Spirit terms him "The God of the 
Earth." 

But what of his number ? Two answers are given. The 
first is : The title worn upon the head of the pope is, when 
expressed in Latin, "Vicarious Filii Dei;" which, being 
interpreted, is "Vicar of the Son of God." The Eoman 
valuation of those letters, when added together, produces 
the number six hundred threescore and six (QQG) exactly, 
no more and no less. The second answer is: When the 
666th pope shall sit in what is now called St. Peter's chair, 
that man will answer to the words of the angel in the 
vision. In concluding this scene, it may be said that the 
comments on the beasts and the manner of their manifes- 
tation will appear in another part of the book. 

Ninth division : This portion of the message opens with 
the fourteenth chapter, and is complete in itself also. The 
opening is in the words, "And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb 
stood on the Mount Sion, and with him an hundred and 
forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written 
in their foreheads." 

This is a sealed number, composed exclusively of the 
house of Jacob, Jews. No Gentiles will be included in this 
number. The vision is again turned to heaven. The 
waters here represent people, a figurative term used 
throughout the book. There are four qualities which this 
number possesses, which fit the possessors for the relation 
they enjoy. First, they sing a new song, Avhich none others 
can learn ; second, they are "virgins," having never known 
women, — were not defiled, but pure, — the object of which 



458 ''Ammi— My People/' 

will appear further on; third, there ^Vas no gnile found 
in their mouths ;" and fourth, "they are the firstf ruits unto 
God and to the Lamb." As to what portion or class of 
the house of Israel composes this number, Scripturists dif- 
fer. In determining what class of persons of the Jews this 
number was taken from, the qualifications which they pos- 
sess must not be lost sight of ; for in losing that, the key is 
lost to the solution. Innocence is the standard, and this is 
thought to be too high for adults. Paul said, "All men 
liave sinned, and come short of the glory of Grod." When 
looking over the field, and carefully noting the mysterious 
manner in which God accomplishes His ends from the 
smallest beginnings, the mind of the writer is inclined to 
the opinion that the infants that were slain at the com- 
mand of Herod, when seeking to destroy the Child Jesus, 
will compose that number, "the one hundred and forty and 
four thousand." 

From this, the vision turns to the fljdng angel having 
the "everlasting Gospel," to preach to them that dwell upon 
the earth. None who are upon the earth at the time when 
the angel goes forth to declare that message, will fail to 
hear it. That this portion of the vision will be literally 
fulfilled there can be no doubt. While a large portion of 
the prophecy is expressed in symbols and figures, their na- 
ture and manner of relation to the things for which they 
stand are most plainly revealed in the message. For in- 
stance, "as the voice of many waters" is an expression fre- 
quently used in the book, and always stands for people. 
The word "beast," so frequently used, is a S3mabol for 
power. But not so when it comes to the personality of the 
angels, nor of Satan and the false prophets. It was the 
literal fulfilling of the Old Testament prophecies that con- 
founded the house of Israel. If the angel that was seen 
flying in the midst of heaven is only a symbol, then the 
message which he declares is also a symbol, with the people, 
the kindred, and the nations, as well as the earth. And if 



Outline Study of the Book of Eevelation. 459 

so^ what do they represent? And thus we might go on 
multiplying symbols, until we had symbolized the entire 
prophecy into something that no one would be able to ex- 
plain. But let it be accepted in the same literal sense in 
w^iich it is given, and all is plain. 

The practice of spiritualizing the Word of God has led 
men to accept a great deal of doctrine unauthorized by the 
Book of Inspiration. Very seldom do we find two persons 
who apply the same spiritual sense to the same text; each 
has his manner of surveying it; and the more fertile the 
imagination, the more ways there are of defining Scripture 
passages, until at length we encounter our modest Friend, 
the Quaker, who has reached the climax of elucidation, and 
has very little even of the spiritual part left. 

The scene in the vision now turns to the wicked city 
of Babylon, — a term used to denote, by way of comparison, 
the wickedness that will fill the earth in the time when the 
angel proclaims the "everlasting Gospel." The wrath of 
God is poured out upon the nations, and their harvest has 
come at last, when the angel will thrust in the sharp sickle, 
and gather the ripe clusters of the earth; for it was said, 
"Her grapes are fully ripe." 

Tenth division: This portion opens with the fifteenth 
chapter, and closes with the eighteenth. 

Again the scene is heavenward, and the words are, 
"And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, 
seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is 
filled up the wrath of God." The frequent use of the 
number seven, in God's dealing with the nations, has a 
significance that can not be passed over without serious 
thought. It was the concluding number in the beginning, 
and has been conspicuous throughout the travels of the 
house of Jacob, and now appears again upon the very brink 
of eternity. It is the key by which many of the secrets of 
the Divine Book may be unlocked, and one portion of the 
world's history may be read in the scenes that follow, many 



460 "Ammi— My People/' 

Imndreds of years apart. The "seven angels having the 
seven last plagues/^ suggests the thought that the vision 
is nearing the close. The fifteenth chapter is descriptive 
of the joy that will follow the victory of the Lamb of God. 
The sea of glass appears, and the portrayal is vivid and 
graphic. The words are, "And I saw as it were a sea of 
glass, mingled with fire." The location of this sea is vari- 
ously understood; yet, when closely examined, the situa- 
tion is plain. Some have located it upon the earth during 
the millennial sabbath of one thousand years. But this con- 
clusion is thought to be erroneous. In the fourth chapter 
of Eevelation, we read where the sea of glass will be; the 
words are, "And before the throne there was a sea of glass 
like unto crystal." This and the language which follows, 
plainly locate the sea in the heaven of heavens, before the 
throne of God. The connection, as well as the conditions, 
place it beyond time and the things of time. 

The sixteenth chapter contains the account of the pour- 
ing out upon the earth of the vials containing the seven 
last plagues, at the hands of the seven angels. The time 
when this will take place is thought to be between the com- 
ing of Christ and the setting up of His kingdom. Many 
minds have attempted to locate the prophecy of Daniel, 
which reads, "And from the time that the daily sacrifice 
shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh 
desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and 
ninety days." That the prophecy was divinely obscured in 
the language with which it is clothed, is quite plain. Our 
Lord and Teacher has declared there are certain things 
which belong to God; and no one should hastily presume 
that he can unlock what God has sealed. Notwithstanding, 
the promise given in the introduction of this message lends 
all a degree of license to read, hear, and keep the words of 
this prophecy. The answer to the old prophet was, "The 
words are sealed up till the time of the end." That the 
end is not here, nor as near as some would have us think, 



Outline Study of the Book of Eevelation. 461 

is indeed a truth. Certain it is, we should not fold onr 
arms and close our eyes, and fall as it were asleep over the 
prophecies that God has given ns that we might be able, at 
least in part, to discern the signs of the times. As an evi- 
dence of this we hear the apostle warning the brethren in 
his day: "But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye 
have no need that I wTite unto you. For yourselves know 
perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in 
the night." 

If the people of God fail in the power to discern the 
signs of the coming of their Lord, it is not for the want of 
warning on the part of God to instruct them, but for a 
lack of applying themselves to a study of the knowledge 
which God has given in order to inform them. There can 
be no error in concluding, from the evidence upon every 
hand, that the end of Gentile time is not far off; still we 
are not justified in saying that the end is really upon us. 
If there be any stronger evidence of the divinity of the 
Scriptures than is made known in the fulfilling of 
prophecy, the world has no knowledge of it. Upon the 
truthfulness of God to His Word hang the hopes of all 
luen in all dispensations. If we can not trust Him on ac- 
count of what He has done, we would not believe Him if He 
did more. Eesting our faith and hopes upon the evidence 
of the past, we build with certainty upon the future; and 
until there be a fulfilling of what remains to be effected 
concerning the house of Israel and also the Gentiles, the 
end is not yet come. 

The scenes described in the fifteenth chapter, and the 
sixteenth as well, are the same in many respects as those 
found in the preceding part of the prophecy, save in a more 
thorough description. The seventeenth chapter is taken 
up with an explanation of the "whore, and the judgment 
which will come upon her." That the same kind of a sym- 
bol should be chosen to illustrate the works of the spirit of 
Antichrist as to represent the Church, or Christ, is worthy 



462 "Ammi— My People/' 

of our attention. The clearness with which these symbols 
are defined, leaves no doubt as to their meaning. There is 
a further likeness in this symbolical woman, in that she, 
in both instances, is called a "mother." In the twelfth 
chapter she is the mother of the "man child," and, figura- 
tively, the mother of the Church. In the present scene 
she is the "Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the 
Earth." She is said to be "drunken with the blood of the 
saints and the martyrs of Jesus;" and for this the man 
of Patmos wondered with great astonishment. The expla- 
nation given by the angel is graphic and forceful, insomuch 
that all who read may easily discern the meaning. Not 
that the thing is so clear that the uninitiated may perceive 
it, but the warning is, "Here is the mind which hath wis- 
dom." However, by comparing the description given with 
the present knowledge of facts at hand, the conclusion is 
forced upon us that the symbol can not be other than the 
city of Kome and the power which is centered there; 
namely, the pope, who stands for the "Man of Sin, the Son 
of Perdition, the King," to which Daniel and Paul refer. 

It is further said, "The waters which thou sawest, where 
the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, 
and tongues;" showing, in a very comprehensive manner, 
the extent of influence and power the "whore, the Mother 
of Harlots," will have over the world in the close of this 
dispensation. Let us notice the term, "Mother of Har- 
lots," and find, if possible, its significance. There can be 
no "mother" unless there be offspring. And, further, the 
offspring will partake of the nature of the parent, which is 
a natural result of law in every part of nature. While the 
"kings of the earth have committed fornication with her," 
literal fornication is not referred to, but spiritual, which 
consists in advocating and practicing false doctrine in oppo- 
sition to the true teachings of Christ. It is certain that had 
the Catholic Church remained faithful to the spirit and 
teaching of the apostolic faith, she might justly claim the 



Outline Study of the Book of Eevelation. 463 

title of the "Mother Church ;" but liaving broken the cove- 
nant alone sustained by true faith and practice, she became 
an apostate, or an adulterous woman. Her history proves 
that such is the case. She was the first to break faith with 
Christ and His doctrine, and having become corrupt, she 
presumptuously lays claim to the term "Catholic," which 
she no longer is able to sustain by evidence. From her 
sprang a number of children in the time of the Keforma- 
tion, that have been multiplying ever since, until the na- 
tions at present are to a dangerous degree filthy with her 
fornication. 

While almost all of the Eeformers came from that 
"Mother," all, in a greater or less degree, brought with 
them some of the spurious teaching received from her. Evi- 
dence is at hand to sustain the assertion. To the careful 
observer the testimony is conclusive that, while the Catholic 
Church is becoming more and more Protestant, the Protes- 
tants are as surely becoming more and more Catholic. One 
of the strongest evidences of this was seen in the interest 
taken by many of the Protestant bodies in the crowning of 
the present pope ; an interest that would have been spurned 
not many years ago. It is of little use for Protestants to 
disclaim sympathy for Catholic forms, and at the same 
time display symptoms of it in their manner of worship. 
The disregard by the Catholic Church of the commands of 
Christ, and the corrupting of the doctrine which he estab- 
lished, has been practically justified by the followers of the 
Eeformers, until they have gone so far, in some instances, 
that even the "Mother" is forced to blush. The difference 
between the Catholic Church and the entire Protestant 
world at present lies merely in the ritualism, and not in 
the doctrines. The doctrines are so closely related in faith 
and practice that should a stranger, who had no knowledge 
of either, be called to classify the Protestant religious 
bodies, he would undoubtedly trace their origin to the 
"Mother," because of the similaritv of doctrines. This 



464 "Ammi— My People/' 

close resemblance of creeds accounts for the present effort 
to bring about what is called "Organic union" of the dif- 
ferent Protestant Churches. We need to wait only a few 
years when the evidence will be so plain that all who are 
not in darkness will be convinced of the truth of our con- 
clusions. Those who are crying out against receiving the 
"mark of the beast" will wisely consider whether, even now, 
they are not in close sympathy with the thing itself in the 
effort to practice a spurious baptism, originally introduced 
by the Catholic Church. 

The destruction of the "whore" can only mean the de- 
stroying of the city referred to in the last verse of the 
seventeenth chapter, and not the beast or power who has 
his seat there. It must not be forgotten that both women 
represented in the symbol were seen in the "wilderness," 
which signifies a removing of the seat of power, both of 
the true Church and the false one. The kings who will 
receive power one hour with the beast, spoken of in the 
twelfth verse, are those who will lend sympathy to the Man 
of Sin, whose number is 666, in his opposition to the true 
Church. There are forty days of time spoken of by the 
prophet Daniel which lie between the one thousand two 
hundred and ninety days, and the one thousand three hun- 
dred and five and thirty days, in which there will be "a 
time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation 
even to that same time." The scene is no doubt the closing 
one in which the earth will be purified and fitted for the 
reign of peace, when Christ will establish His kingdom 
upon the earth. There are five days of over-time counted 
in the number of which Daniel speaks; but this accounts 
for the time in which Christ was in Egypt, when Joseph 
was told to flee with the Child and His mother, from the 
wrath of Herod. The numbers are symbolical, and a day 
very often stands for a year, and a year for a day, of which 
every student of the Scriptures should be aware in appl}^- 
ing time to certain future events. The number seven. 



Outline Study of the Book of Revelation. 465 

twelve, and forty, are sacred numbers, and have relative 
connection throughout the Book of Inspiration. 

The eighteenth chapter is devoted exclusively to the de- 
struction of the enemies of the Lamb of God and His peo- 
ple, and the fall of the great city of Babylon spoken of in 
the second verse of the chapter. The expression is figura- 
tive, and is used by way of comparison with that wicked 
city upon which God sent the power of His wrath in the 
time of the prophets of the Old Testament. 

Eleventh division : This is composed of the nineteenth 
and twentieth chapters, and marks the concluding scenes 
in preparing the earth for the millennial reign. We find 
mention herein of the chorus of song in which all the serv- 
ants of God join to proclaim the victory of their King; the 
evidence of the heavens and the earth as manifested in 
the victory as well; the casting out of the "beast and the 
false prophet" into the lake of fire; and the feast of the 
fowls which shall feed upon the bodies of those who have 
fallen victims to the "sword which goeth out of the mouth 
of him who is called the Word of God." 

The twentieth chapter contains a brief account of the 
binding of Satan, and of his being cast into the "bottomless 
pit," and there confined for one thousand years ; the resur- 
rection of the righteous, and the blessedness enjoyed by 
those who are worthy to have a part in the peaceful king- 
dom. The resurrection of the saints is followed by the 
resurrection of the whole house of Israel, and their restora- 
tion to their own land to enjoy the fullness of its possession 
for one thousand years. This is the glorious period toward 
which their eyes have been turned, lo, these many years; 
it is the consummation of all that Jehovah their God has* 
promised them. To describe the condition of that reign, 
and the glory of it, would take a volume itself. At the 
close of that period, Satan is to be loosened again to try 
the nations for a "little season," in order to prove them. 
This feature has been a stumbling block to many who have 
30 



466 "Ammi— My People." 

paid some attention to this part of the prophecy. They do 
not seem to comprehend the reason for this test. Yet it is 
thought, if we correctly consider the justice of God and the 
principle upon which His righteousness is manifested, the 
cause for this will at once appear plain and consistent. 

While the gifts of God are based upon free grace, they 
are also to be considered as a reward for service. It is a 
decree of High Heaven that all who would be His must 
be proven; this was the test in the garden of Eden. In 
every instance, from Genesis to Eevelation, God has chosen 
the right to "prove His children;" and should all those 
who have lived upon the earth during the time of peace 
and purity be accepted of Him, without being proven, the 
contest would not be even, and God would be in that de- 
gree a respecter of persons; which He has said He is not. 
It must be understood, however, that the proof will apply 
only to those who have not lived in any former dispensa- 
tion. All who have been found faithful under previous 
trials are exempt from the test that Satan will exercise in 
the "little season" in which he goes forth to deceive the 
nations. How successful he will be in his efforts is de- 
scribed in the words contained in the eighth verse: "The 
number of whom is as the sand of the sea." . 

Many labor under the delusion that the battle described 
in the prophecy of Ezekiel and the battle spoken of in this 
place are the same ; this is a most serious mistake, as they 
are at least one thousand 3^ears apart. The battle of Eze- 
kiel will occur when the Lord comes to purify the earth at 
the end of the present dispensation, while the battle of 
which the Eevelator speaks will be at the close of that 
peaceful reign. There are a number of differences be- 
tween them that can be easily discerned on examination, — 
first, the manner in which the armies of Gog and Magog 
are destroyed is differently described. In Ezekiel the army 
is turned against itself, while the tongues and the eyes of 
the combatants consume awav ; in the scene in Revelation, 



Outline Study of the Book of Eevelation. 467 

fire comes down from heaven and consumes them. More- 
over, in Ezekiel seven months are consumed in burying the 
dead before the earth is purified; while in Eevelation fire 
completes their destruction. The vision closes with the 
last or final resurrection of all who have died and had not 
a part in the "first resurrection," which took place when 
Christ came. Xone are left behind in this gathering. It 
may be that many are indifferent as to meeting with the 
people of God now; but in that meeting none will be ab- 
sent. The assurance we have is expressed in the following 
words : "And I saw the dead small and great stand before 
God; . . . and the sea gave up the dead which were 
in it ; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were 
in them: and they were judged every man according to 
their works." That this is a literal judgment is as plain 
to a rational view as that there is a literal heaven and a 
literal God. To deny this part of Eevelation, is to reject 
all. If one part is not literal, then, upon the same scale 
of reasoning, none is real. More than this, if there is not 
a literal lake of fire, there is no meaning in the counsels of 
God concerning the purifying of the wicked; and we are 
left to our own imaginations, which are as fertile as the 
minds of men are to produce wdckedness. Thus this part 
of the vision closes wdth the words, "This is the second 
death." 

At this point it may be appropriate to inquire into the 
reasons which some have given as to the final outcome of 
those who are consigned to a state of purification, or rather 
as they call it, annihilation. It is indeed strange to what 
extent many go in measuring the works of a God, whom 
they are pleased to admit is just. If the word annihila- 
tion can be applied to any part of that which God has made, 
then the purpose of God is frustrated, and He is not All- 
wise. Time and again has the word gone out from the 
mouth of God that all things were made to glorify Him; 
and for that purpose they were and are created. The ex- 



468 "Ammi— My People." . 

istence of a law with which we are all familiar denies, even 
now, the utter destruction of anything, and should prove 
to all intelligent creatures that such a position is untena- 
ble. The most that we can do with matter, under any 
process to which we may subject it, is to change its form : 
this is man's limit, and well has science proved the fact 
wherever the test has been made. So long as we close our 
eyes to the truths in the natural field, just that long are we 
blind to the eternal truths in the spiritual. 

Twelfth division : This is the last and closing part of 
the vision, and is separated from that which preceded it 
by a span that finite minds can never know. 

The twenty-first and twenty-second chapters compose 
this portion of the message, and mark the closing of God's 
revelation to man. The opening words are, "And I saw 
a new heaven and a new earth : for the first heaven and the 
first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.'' 
The unspeakable glory which crowned the vision of the man 
of Patmos at this stage was enough to erase the memory of 
all that had passed before. It was the dawn of the morn- 
ing of eternity in the beauty and splendor which God and 
His glory alone could give it. It had brought the servant 
of God to the point where the things of time were so con- 
sumed by that of eternity that they could never come in 
remembrance again: "For the former things were passed 
away." As the scene progresses its intensity increases, 
until the tabernacle of God is seen to come down upon 
this new earth in order that God might dwell with men. 

With what tenderness do we behold the Infinite Father 
of all seeking, always and ever, the companionship of that 
which He designed to bear His image ! Throughout the 
rolling years of time has His strong arm of protection and 
mercy, love and forbearance, been stretched out toward 
wayward man. Since it was said, "The evening and the 
morning were the first day," the communion with man 
lias been the coveted prize that Heaven has been seeking; 



Outline Study of the Book of Eevelation^ 469 

and every page of our history bears evidence of the fact. 
When that fellowship was broken, and man in sin hid from 
God, the voice went forth : "Adam, where art thou ?" Nor 
has it ever ceased to call the wanderer home. And here, 
upon the last page of God's message to us, appears the call 
in the same sweetness that the Creator has always shown 
toward the creature : "The Spirit and the Bride say. Come. 
And let him that heareth say. Come. And let him that 
is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take of the 
water of life freely.^' 

Nor is this all. When He led His people through the 
wilderness by the hand of Moses His servant, Jehovah went 
before. When He asked them to dwell in tabernacles, He 
dwelt with them. And now, upon the morning of eternity, 
He has promised to come down and establish a more glori- 
ous and ineffable tabernacling with the redeemed. In the 
vision, the promise which God had vouchsafed to the 
prophet of Israel is renewed wherein He had said, that 
"God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there 
shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither 
shall there be any more pain." "And He that sat upon the 
throne said. Behold I make all things new." This mak- 
ing of "all things new" contains a significance which, in 
compass, embodies the entire economy of salvation. Pos- 
sibly there is as much included in the act of making "all 
things new" as in anything which we may consider. When 
we remember that the first page of the history of creation 
is marked with a curse, and that the effect was so general 
that no created thing escaped its sting, we will perceive 
why God has designed to make it new again. 

And here we are confronted with a thought embodying 
a principle that, correctly understood, will aid us greatly 
to follow God in His dealings with the human family. 
The expression, "Behold I make all things new," appeals 
to us in a limited sense; upon this point there can be no 
doubt. It is not to be thought for a moment that the habi- 



470 "Ammi— My People/' 

lation of God, the eternal heavens, are inclnded in the 
"making anew again/' they are as eternal as God is eter- 
nal. The}^ were not created, nor did sin ever enter there to 
defile. The rebellion of Lucifer was in the habitation of 
spirits, the paradise of God, or what we can consistently 
call the second heaven ; and that was a part of creation. It 
is said, "There was war in heaven,^' because there was tres- 
pass and sin there; and as man is said to be created in 
Christ Jesus nnto good works, so shall all created things 
leceive the renewing of His blessedness. It is certain that 
the word "all,'' in the expression referred to, can not go be- 
yond created things. 

The command was, "Write : for these words are true and 
faithful ;'" giving all men to know that the things here de- 
clared will come to pass. The expression, "It is done," 
lends fullness to the scene, that finds its counterpart in 
the cry of Jesus upon the cross, when he said, "It is 
finished." The one declares the means prepared ; the other 
echoes the answer, the "work is done." The comforting 
thought of man's becoming a son of God is next intro- 
duced, and the qualification that must precede the demand 
is, that man must overcome, instead of being overcome. 

The scene now changes to something not as yet seen in 
the vision: the introduction is, "Come hither, I will shew 
you the bride, the Lamb's wife." Scripturists have differed 
as to the thing intended. by these words. One thing is cer- 
tain : whatever our conceptions of this expression may be, it 
can not go beyond that which was shown to him who re- 
ceived the message. The words used in describing the thing 
that was called the "bride" are : "And he carried me away 
in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and he shewed 
me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of 
heaven from God." Then follows a description of the city 
in a manner that is profound beyond the power of human 
mind to apprehend. From the way it is described, it ap- 
pears as though the city might be the bride : yet it does 



Outline Study of the Book of Eevelation. 471 

not seem indeed that such can reasonably be the case. If 
the inmates of that city are referred to, there is no particu- 
lar emphasis placed upon the idea. There are, however, 
certain conditions spoken of which support the conclusion 
that the inhabitants of the city are meant. There is no 
need of the sun or the moon, nor any other light, "For 
the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light 
thereof." There is a twofold meaning in the passage just 
quoted. While the "glory of God did lighten" the city, it 
took the Lamb of God to increase or magnify that glory; 
and this is in accord with the mission of Christ from His 
first entrance upon the work of redeeming the human race. 
Only those who "have their names written in the Lamb's 
Book of Life" will be permitted to enter that city. The na- 
tions will bring their glory into it ; but not to dwell there. 

The last and closing portion of this message from 
heaven opens w^ith the words, "And he shewed me a pure 
river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the 
throne of God and the Lamb." Here is the consummate 
purpose of God in the beginning, at last eternally accom- 
plished. This "river of water of life" can be none other 
than the offspring of God, which had its beginning in the 
morning of creation. From the time it was said, "Be thou 
fruitful and multiply," has that fountain of life been in- 
creasing, multiplying, expanding, until, in the morning of 
eternity, it has become a veritable river, flowing from the 
same source, and as pure as when it started. Sin and im- 
purity may have clouded it; time, with its decaying and 
destroying influence, may have filled the current with crime 
and filthiness; licentiousness and murder may have at- 
tempted to obstruct its course; but onward still has been 
its flow until, by the purifying power of the Eternal God, 
it flows now as clear as crystal from out the throne of Him 
who is the head and fountain. 

Upon the banks of this river are trees, whose virtues 
will heal the nations. How profound the thought, and 



472 '^Ammi— My People." 

measureless the application! The question arises, Are 
there yet some to be healed? Ah, yes! The deadening 
powers of sin are all but indelibly stamped upon the souls 
of men and mankind. Those who apply the washing of re- 
generation that Jesus sanctified by His own blood, and 
prove the same by works of righteousness, will not need this 
after-healing ; they are saved by the blood of the Lamb. As 
the house of Israel will need a further purifying after they 
are gathered into their own land, so shall the Gentiles, 
who have spurned the offers of mercy, by the sacrifice of 
Christ, need an after-healing before they are whole. The 
prophet declares that in the day when God shall gather the 
whole house of Israel, and save them from their abomina- 
tions, whither they have gone and defiled His holy name, 
there will be a fountain opened unto them for their heal- 
ing. His words are, "In that day there shall be a fountain 
opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of 
Jerusalem, for sin and uncleanness." In like manner the 
house of the rebellious Gentiles will need a healing after 
they have come to accept Christ as th^ir King. 

Again, Ihe way of the Eternal God of the nations is 
found to be always equal. The words, "And there shall be 
no more curse,^^ stand as a pillar and fountain of truth, in- 
creasing in strength of conviction as the mind contemplates 
the infinite wisdom and knowledge of God. Again the 
mind turns backward to the morning of life, when it was 
said, "Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt 
thou eat of it all the days of thy life.^^ N"or has evidence 
been wanting of the truth of these words wherever man 
•has journeyed. But noAV, on the eve of the morning of 
eternity, the word from the mouth of Almighty God is, 
"And there shall be no more curse.'' The faithfulness of 
the words of the message is again assured, and the blessed- 
ness of keeping the same; at which the servant of God at- 
tempts to fall down and worship the angel that delivered 
them to him ; when the rebuke comes, "See thou do it not : 



OuTLiXE Study of the Book of Revelatiox. 473 

worship God/^ A positive warning to all to abstain from 
doing homage to men or angels : a point at which so many 
have failed, and are failing. 

The command was, "Seal not the sayings of the 
prophecy of this book ; for the time is at hand.*^ The clos- 
ing part of the message turns to the end-time of this dis- 
pensation, and fixes the state or condition of all men when 
the blessed Lamb of God comes to gather His people to 
Himself. Hear the words of the Spirit : "He that is un- 
just, let him be unjust still : and he that is filth}^ let him 
be filthy still : and he that is righteous, let him be righteous 
still : and he that is holy, let him be holy still.'' The jus- 
tice of God is assured again in that every one shall receive 
"according as his work shall be.'' A warning is given to all 
not to add or subtract from the words of this prophecy, 
with the penalty annexed for so doing. The vision gently 
closes with the blessed comfort, "Surely I come quickly;" 
to which the servant of God replies, "Even so come, Lord 
Jesus." 

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. 
Amen. 



JUN 17 1905 



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